The TUC has urged the government to "stay on course" in delivering its Employment Rights Bill.

The bill would be a major shake-up of workers' rights, which would include protection against unfair dismissal, and a ban on "exploitative" zero-hours contracts.

Speaking at the TUC congress in Brighton, TUC general secretary Paul Novak told the BBC: "I am confident that the government will deliver on its commitments to enact that employment rights bill in full."

This comes as a senior Labour MP told the BBC that the Employment Rights Bill risks being ''slow walked''.

• Employment Rights Bill: Will things change for women?
• How will the changes to workers' rights affect you?

The MP warned: ''Many Labour colleagues fear that with the economy under strain, ministers may be tempted to drag their feet on implementation as an olive branch to business.''

Concern is coming from unions on the right of the trade union movement, not the usual suspects who might be expected to criticise the government.

Mr Novak said the bill "will give a massive boost to rights for millions of working people in this country, lots of whom are in insecure, low-paid employment".

"My message to the government is, stay on course, deliver the employment rights bill, and deliver it in full," he said.

He also pushed back on the idea the government could make concessions to business in the legislation

"I think that's the last thing government should countenance", Mr Novak said.

"Having people in well-paid, secure employment is good for everybody. It's good for workers, but it's also good for the good employers who are being undercut by the cowboys, and it's good for the UK economy".

At the Trades Union Congress, senior union figures have been voicing their concerns that the Bill will be watered down following the departure of Angela Rayner, the sacking of Justin Madders as Employment Minister and the decision to move Jonathan Reynolds from the Business brief to Chief Whip.

USDAW represents more than 300,000 workers, many of whom work in supermarkets, factories and warehouses.

The union is concerned that an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill, which was added by the House of Lords in July, could be adopted by the government.

The amendment seeks to change the Bill from a requirement for an employer to offer guaranteed hours to a right to request guaranteed hours by an employee.

The union is concerned that this would be a weakening of their members' rights because there would no longer be a right to a contract that reflects their normal hours of work.

The Federation of Small Businesses has told the BBC that Angela Rayner's resignation and the government reshuffle present an opportunity to 'fix the issues' with the Employment Rights Bill.

"In some of our recent polling of members, 92% of employers said they were worried about this legislation. We have never got to that level in a poll", said Craig Beaumont, director of policy at the FSB.

"They are overwhelmed by the changes that are coming. They don't have HR teams. All these different measures scare them, and this is a chance to fix the issues"

Mr Beaumont said that Rayner's resignation and the sacking of employment minister Madders - two key government supporters of the bill - could allow for some compromise.

Microsoft's Azure cloud services have been disrupted by undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea, the US tech giant says.

The company said Azure users would experience delays because of problems with internet traffic moving through the Middle East. Azure is among the world's leading cloud computing platforms.

Microsoft did not explain what might have caused the cuts to the undersea cables. It added that it had rerouted traffic through other paths.

Over the weekend, there were other reports suggesting that undersea cable cuts had affected the United Arab Emirates and countries in Asia.

An update posted on the Microsoft website on Saturday said that Azure traffic going through the Middle East "may experience increased latency due to undersea fibre cuts in the Red Sea".

It stressed that traffic "that does not traverse through the Middle East is not impacted".

Cables laid on the ocean floor transmit data between continents and are often described as the backbone of the internet.

On Saturday, NetBlocks, an organisation that monitors internet access, said a series of subsea cable cuts in the Red Sea had affected internet services in several countries, including India and Pakistan.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Company said in a post on X that the cable cuts occurred in waters near the Saudi city of Jeddah and warned that internet services could be affected during peak hours.

On Sunday, NetBlocks said services were also disrupted in the United Arab Emirates.

Undersea cables can be damaged by anchors dropped by ships but can also be targeted in attacks.

In February 2024, several communications cables in the Red Sea were cut, affecting data traffic between Asia and Europe.

The incident happened about a month after Yemen's internationally recognised government warned that the Iran-backed Houthi movement might sabotage the undersea cables in addition to attacking ships. The Houthis denied that they had targeted cables.

In the Baltic Sea, a series of undersea cables and gas pipelines have been damaged in suspected attacks since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Earlier this year, Swedish authorities seized a ship suspected of damaging a cable running under the Baltic Sea to Latvia. Prosecutors said an initial investigation pointed to sabotage.

Police in the Czech Republic have finally arrested the driver of a Formula 1-type racing car which had been spotted on the motorway on numerous occasions since 2019.

The red racing car, decked out in full Ferrari livery, was followed to a property in the village of Buk, some 60km (37 miles) south-west of Prague, after the latest sighting was reported to police.

Video emerged on Sunday morning showing the distinctive car driving along the D4 motorway and stopping for petrol.

The driver - a 51-year-old man - was arrested at his home and taken into custody after briefly refusing to get out of the vehicle.

Video footage captured by local media showed him sitting in the car in front of his garage, arguing with officers and saying they were trespassing on private property.

Eventually he relented and agreed to be taken to a police station for questioning - still wearing his red racing driver's outfit and helmet.

According to subsequent media reports he refused to answer any questions when he got there.

A man identified as his son told local media that the house had been surrounded by several dozen police cars and a helicopter, in what he said was a disproportionate response "to a supposed traffic violation of ours."

He said police "allegedly saw us towing a Formula 1 car which they claimed had been speeding along the motorway a few minutes earlier - of course we know absolutely nothing about this."

Police first managed to speak with the phantom F1 driver in 2019, when images and video of the car on the motorway first started to appear online.

They tracked down the vehicle and questioned its owner, who denied ever driving it on the motorway. It is unclear if that is the same person police have now arrested.

Because the driver wore a helmet in the videos and photos, they could not be identified and police were unable to take the matter any further.

The vehicle has frequently been described as "a Ferrari Formula 1 car".

However, according to the website auto.cz it is in fact a Dallara GP2/08 - a racing car developed by the Italian manufacturer Dallara for use in the GP2 Series, a feeder series for Formula One.

The contest has since been rebranded as the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

Regardless of its exact provenance the owner now faces a fine for driving a vehicle on the motorway without headlights, indicators or number plates.

Microsoft's Azure cloud services have been disrupted by undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea, the US tech giant says.

The company said Azure users would experience delays because of problems with internet traffic moving through the Middle East. Azure is among the world's leading cloud computing platforms.

Microsoft did not explain what might have caused the cuts to the undersea cables. It added that it had rerouted traffic through other paths.

Over the weekend, there were other reports suggesting that undersea cable cuts had affected the United Arab Emirates and countries in Asia.

An update posted on the Microsoft website on Saturday said that Azure traffic going through the Middle East "may experience increased latency due to undersea fibre cuts in the Red Sea".

It stressed that traffic "that does not traverse through the Middle East is not impacted".

Cables laid on the ocean floor transmit data between continents and are often described as the backbone of the internet.

On Saturday, NetBlocks, an organisation that monitors internet access, said a series of subsea cable cuts in the Red Sea had affected internet services in several countries, including India and Pakistan.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Company said in a post on X that the cable cuts occurred in waters near the Saudi city of Jeddah and warned that internet services could be affected during peak hours.

On Sunday, NetBlocks said services were also disrupted in the United Arab Emirates.

Undersea cables can be damaged by anchors dropped by ships but can also be targeted in attacks.

In February 2024, several communications cables in the Red Sea were cut, affecting data traffic between Asia and Europe.

The incident happened about a month after Yemen's internationally recognised government warned that the Iran-backed Houthi movement might sabotage the undersea cables in addition to attacking ships. The Houthis denied that they had targeted cables.

In the Baltic Sea, a series of undersea cables and gas pipelines have been damaged in suspected attacks since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Earlier this year, Swedish authorities seized a ship suspected of damaging a cable running under the Baltic Sea to Latvia. Prosecutors said an initial investigation pointed to sabotage.

Police in the Czech Republic have finally arrested the driver of a Formula 1-type racing car which had been spotted on the motorway on numerous occasions since 2019.

The red racing car, decked out in full Ferrari livery, was followed to a property in the village of Buk, some 60km (37 miles) south-west of Prague, after the latest sighting was reported to police.

Video emerged on Sunday morning showing the distinctive car driving along the D4 motorway and stopping for petrol.

The driver - a 51-year-old man - was arrested at his home and taken into custody after briefly refusing to get out of the vehicle.

Video footage captured by local media showed him sitting in the car in front of his garage, arguing with officers and saying they were trespassing on private property.

Eventually he relented and agreed to be taken to a police station for questioning - still wearing his red racing driver's outfit and helmet.

According to subsequent media reports he refused to answer any questions when he got there.

A man identified as his son told local media that the house had been surrounded by several dozen police cars and a helicopter, in what he said was a disproportionate response "to a supposed traffic violation of ours."

He said police "allegedly saw us towing a Formula 1 car which they claimed had been speeding along the motorway a few minutes earlier - of course we know absolutely nothing about this."

Police first managed to speak with the phantom F1 driver in 2019, when images and video of the car on the motorway first started to appear online.

They tracked down the vehicle and questioned its owner, who denied ever driving it on the motorway. It is unclear if that is the same person police have now arrested.

Because the driver wore a helmet in the videos and photos, they could not be identified and police were unable to take the matter any further.

The vehicle has frequently been described as "a Ferrari Formula 1 car".

However, according to the website auto.cz it is in fact a Dallara GP2/08 - a racing car developed by the Italian manufacturer Dallara for use in the GP2 Series, a feeder series for Formula One.

The contest has since been rebranded as the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

Regardless of its exact provenance the owner now faces a fine for driving a vehicle on the motorway without headlights, indicators or number plates.

The Argentine human rights activist Rosa Roisinblit has died at the age of 106, her organisation says.

She was honorary president and a founding member of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, a group that searched for children stolen during Argentina's military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983.

"We only have words of gratitude for her dedication... and the love with which she searched for the grandsons and granddaughters until the very end," the campaign group said in a statement.

Some 30,000 people were killed or forcibly disappeared during Argentina's "Dirty War". Children of detained opposition activists were seized and given up for adoption.

Rosa Roisinblit was born in 1919 in Moises Ville, a town of Jewish immigrants in central Argentina.

She worked as an obstetrician and moved to Buenos Aires in 1949, where she married in 1951.

After the military coup of March 1976, the junta moved to eradicate the opposition. Tens of thousands of activists were snatched in raids and held in clandestine detention and torture centres.

Many were thrown into the sea on notorious "death flights". An estimated 500 of their babies were stolen.

Roisinblit's pregnant daughter Patricia, son-in-law José Pérez Rojo and 15-month old granddaughter Mariana, were kidnapped in 1978. The couple had been left-wing activists.

The family was transferred to a school, known as Esma, which was the largest detention centre in Buenos Aires.

Patricia Roisinblit was kept alive long enough to give birth to her son in a basement. The couple's bodies were never found. Mariana was returned to Rosa, who raised her.

The new-born baby was given to an air-force intelligence officer to bring up.

After her family's abduction, Roisinblit joined the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo and served as treasurer for six years before working as vice-president from 1989 to 2022.

Her grandson was tracked down in 2000 by his sister Mariana and through the work of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo.

He had been given the name Guillermo Francisco Gómez by the adoptive parents: Francisco Gómez and Teodora Jofre.

He was reunited with Rosa and Mariana, after DNA tests confirmed they were related.

Roisinblit was in the courtroom in 2016, when Goméz was jailed for life over Guillermo's abduction. Jofre was separately sentenced a three years in prison.

Later that year, Omar Graffigna, the former head of the air force, and former intelligence officer Luis Trillo were sentenced to 25 years for the abduction and torture of Patricia and José.

They were among hundreds of soldiers and leaders prosecuted for human-rights abuses.

At the age of 96, Roisinblit attended the trial with Guillermo and Mariana.

A year later, she told AFP news agency: "This wound never heals... But to say I'm stopping? No, I'll never stop."

An estimated 140 babies have been reunited with their biological parents through the work of organisations like Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. Hundreds are still missing.

"We fight but the heroes are our children who rose up against a fierce dictatorship and gave their lives for a better country," Roisinblit said.

Guillermo is a human rights lawyer and works with the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, continuing his grandmother's legacy.

In a post on X on Saturday, he said: "My Grandma has passed away, and beyond the sadness I feel, it comforts me to think that after 46 years she is reunited with my mom and with her great love, my grandfather Benjamín."

Rosa Roisinblit is also survived by granddaughter Mariana Eva Perez, a writer, playwright and academic.

American pilot Ethan Guo has been released from a Chilean air base in Antarctica after being detained for two months for allegedly illegally landing his plane in the country's territory.

Mr Guo, 20, was released on Saturday. He has been ordered to pay a $30,000 (£22,332) donation and is banned from entering Chilean territory for three years.

The young pilot and influencer is accused of having landed his plane without permission after giving officials a false flight plan as he was undertaking a solo trip to all seven continents to raise money for cancer research.

Mr Guo is doing "pretty well", his lawyer Jaime Barrientos Ramírez told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

"Of course, we do not agree with the legal process opened against him, but it has already been closed with a type of dismissal," his attorney said, as reported by CBS News.

He is expected to donate his penalty to childhood cancer research within 30 days. He must also leave the country as soon as possible.

The BBC has contacted Mr Barrientos Ramírez for comment.

Ethan Guo was 19 when he embarked on his journey to become the youngest person to fly solo to every continent, and simultaneously hoped to raise $1m (£740,300) for cancer research through St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.

Having already visited six of seven continents, in June he flew his small Cessna 182Q aircraft from the city of Punta Arenas, near the southernmost point of Chile, to King George Island off the Atlantic coast.

The island is claimed by Chile and named after the UK's King George III.

Mr Guo, who is originally from Tennessee, was taken into custody after landing on the island, which is home to a number of international research stations and their staff.

Authorities said he submitted a plan to fly over Punta Arenas, but not beyond that, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

He was charged on 29 June with allegedly handing false information to ground control and landing without authorisation, but these were dropped by a judge last month.

He has previously said he wants to continue with his original mission once able to leave the military base.

For years visitors would venture up Mount Sinai with a Bedouin guide to watch the sunrise over the pristine, rocky landscape or go on other Bedouin-led hikes.

Now one of Egypt's most sacred places - revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims - is at the heart of an unholy row over plans to turn it into a new tourism mega-project.

Known locally as Jabal Musa, Mount Sinai is where Moses is said to have been given the Ten Commandments. Many also believe that this is the place where, according to the Bible and the Quran, God spoke to the prophet from the burning bush.

The 6th century St Catherine's Monastery, run by the Greek Orthodox Church, is also there - and seemingly its monks will stay on now that Egyptian authorities, under Greek pressure, have denied wanting to close it

However, there is still deep concern about how the long-isolated, desert location - a Unesco World Heritage site comprising the monastery, town and mountain - is being transformed. Luxury hotels, villas and shopping bazaars are under construction there.

It is also home to a traditional Bedouin community, the Jebeleya tribe. Already the tribe, known as the Guardians of St Catherine, have had their homes and tourist eco-camps demolished with little or no compensation. They have even been forced to take bodies out of their graves in the local cemetery to make way for a new car park.

The project may have been presented as desperately needed sustainable development which will boost tourism, but it has also been imposed on the Bedouin against their will, says Ben Hoffler, a British travel writer who has worked closely with Sinai tribes.

"This is not development as the Jebeleya see it or asked for it, but how it looks when imposed top-down to serve the interests of outsiders over those of the local community," he told the BBC.

"A new urban world is being built around a Bedouin tribe of nomadic heritage," he added. "It's a world they have always chosen to remain detached from, to whose construction they did not consent, and one that will change their place in their homeland forever."

Locals, who number about 4,000, are unwilling to speak directly about the changes.

So far, Greece is the foreign power which has been most vocal about the Egyptian plans, because of its connection to the monastery.

Tensions between Athens and Cairo flared up after an Egyptian court ruled in May that St Catherine's - the world's oldest continuously used Christian monastery - lies on state land.

After a decades-long dispute, judges said that the monastery was only "entitled to use" the land it sits on and the archaeological religious sites which dot its surroundings.

Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens, head of the Church of Greece, was quick to denounce the ruling.

"The monastery's property is being seized and expropriated. This spiritual beacon of Orthodoxy and Hellenism is now facing an existential threat," he said in a statement.

In a rare interview, St Catherine's longtime Archbishop Damianos told a Greek newspaper the decision was a "grave blow for us... and a disgrace". His handling of the affair led to bitter divisions between the monks and his recent decision to step down.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem pointed out that the holy site - over which it has ecclesiastical jurisdiction - had been granted a letter of protection by the Prophet Muhammad himself.

It said that the Byzantine monastery - which unusually also houses a small mosque built in the Fatimid era - was "an enshrinement of peace between Christians and Muslims and a refuge of hope for a world mired by conflict".

While the controversial court ruling remains in place, a flurry of diplomacy ultimately culminated in a joint declaration between Greece and Egypt ensuring the protection of St Catherine's Greek Orthodox identity and cultural heritage.

'Special gift' or insensitive interference?

Egypt began its state-sponsored Great Transfiguration Project for tourists in 2021. The plan includes opening hotels, eco-lodges and a large visitor centre, as well as expanding the small nearby airport and a cable car to Mount Moses.

The government is promoting the development as "Egypt's gift to the entire world and all religions".

"The project will provide all tourism and recreational services for visitors, promote the development of the town [of St Catherine] and its surrounding areas while preserving the environmental, visual, and heritage character of the pristine nature, and provide accommodation for those working on St Catherine's projects," Housing Minister Sherif el-Sherbiny said last year.

While work does appear to have stalled, at least temporarily, due to funding issues, the Plain of el-Raha - in view of St Catherine's Monastery - has already been transformed. Construction is continuing on new roads.

This is where the followers of Moses, the Israelites, are said to have waited for him during his time on Mount Sinai. And critics say the special natural characteristics of the area are being destroyed.

Detailing the outstanding universal value of the site, Unesco notes how "the rugged mountainous landscape around... forms a perfect backdrop for the Monastery".

It says: "Its siting demonstrates a deliberate attempt to establish an intimate bond between natural beauty and remoteness on the one hand and human spiritual commitment on the other."

Back in 2023, Unesco highlighted its concerns and called on Egypt to stop developments, check their impact and produce a conservation plan.

This has not happened.

In July, World Heritage Watch sent an open letter calling on Unesco's World Heritage Committee to place the St Catherine's area on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger.

Campaigners have also approached King Charles as patron of the St Catherine Foundation, which raises funds to help conserve and study the monastery's heritage with its collection of valuable ancient Christian manuscripts. The King has described the site as "a great spiritual treasure that should be maintained for future generations".

The mega-project is not the first in Egypt to draw criticism for a lack of sensitivity to the country's unique history.

But the government sees its series of grandiose schemes as key to reinvigorating the flagging economy.

Egypt's once-thriving tourism sector had begun to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic when it was hit by the brutal war in Gaza and a new wave of regional instability. The government has declared an aim of reaching 30 million visitors by 2028.

Under successive Egyptian governments, commercial development of the Sinai has been carried out without consulting the indigenous Bedouin communities.

The peninsula was captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East War and only returned to Egypt after the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979. The Bedouin have since complained of being treated like second-class citizens.

The construction of Egypt's popular Red Sea destinations, including Sharm el-Sheikh, began in South Sinai in the 1980s. Many see similarities with what is happening at St Catherine's now.

"The Bedouin were the people of the region, and they were the guides, the workers, the people to rent from," says Egyptian journalist Mohannad Sabry.

"Then industrial tourism came in and they were pushed out - not just pushed out of the business but physically pushed back from the sea into the background."

As with the Red Sea locations, it is expected that Egyptians from elsewhere in the country will be brought in to work at the new St Catherine's development. However, the government says it is also "upgrading" Bedouin residential areas.

St Catherine's Monastery has endured many upheavals through the past millennium and a half but, when the oldest of the monks at the site originally moved there, it was still a remote retreat.

That began to change as the expansion of the Red Sea resorts brought thousands of pilgrims on day trips at peak times.

In recent years, large crowds would often be seen filing past what is said to be the remnants of the burning bush or visiting a museum displaying pages from the Codex Sinaiticus - the world's oldest surviving, nearly complete, handwritten copy of the New Testament.

Now, even though the monastery and the deep religious significance of the site will remain, its surroundings and centuries-long ways of life look set to be irreversibly changed.

Siren sounds have blared from mobile phones across the country in a test of the national emergency alert system.

At around 15:00 on Sunday, mobiles vibrated and sounded for about 10 seconds in the second test of the system.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said "tens of millions of phones successfully sounded" in the test, which he said was "an important step in keeping people safe during national emergencies".

Sporting and other events had to adjust for the alert. The women's Rugby World Cup match between Ireland and New Zealand in Brighton paused mid-game, while theatre-goers were advised to turn off their phone before curtains up.

Mobile phone users received a message making clear that the alert was a drill.

The alarm happened between overs at England's third ODI cricket match against South Africa at Southampton. Fans had been warned via a message on the big screen about the alert.

Drivers were urged not to be distracted behind the wheel.

Video posted on social media shows the siren sounds blaring inside the usually tranquil British Library in London. One patron can be heard whispering "shush".

At the BBC, the alert was covered in a live broadcast as presenters checked to see whether their phones were sent the alert.

The system appeared to reach into the tunnels of London's Underground system. A couple said they received their alerts while on a tube train heading towards Liverpool Street Station.

Mark, 44, of Essex, told the PA news agency: "We were on the Tube. It came through twice for me. The whole Tube carriage's phones started going when we got signal."

His partner Abby said no one appeared surprised.

Some people did seem to experience problems with the test. The BBC's science reporter Esme Stallard and other users received a garbled message with her alert.

But a government spokesperson said the alert message "was broadcast correctly and mobile operators have confirmed that the test ran as expected".

The first national test in 2023 was largely successful, although there were some reports of no alerts being sent, or too late.

The government has used the system to issue real warnings five times, including in January during Storm Eowyn to warn people in Scotland and Northern Ireland about severe weather.

Approximately 3.5 million people across Wales and south-west England received an alert during Storm Darragh last December.

A 500kg unexploded Second World War bomb found in a Plymouth back garden triggered a warning to some 50,000 phones in February last year.

Messages can be targeted to relatively small areas to pinpoint those at risk.

Around 15,000 phones were alerted during flooding in Cumbria in May 2024, and 10,000 received a warning during flooding in Leicestershire in January this year.

The system is designed for use during the most likely emergencies to affect the UK and warnings would also be transmitted on television, radio and locally by knocking on doors.

Government officials also met domestic violence charities and campaigners for discussions on helping those who needed to opt out of the test.

The McLaren controversy

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London Underground staff have started a five-day walkout over pay and conditions.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union are carrying out rolling action over pay and fatigue management, and have asked for a 32-hour week.

There will be limited service until 18:00 BST on Sunday and little or no service between Monday and Thursday. The Elizabeth line and the Overground will operate as normal but are expected to be much busier, along with buses and roads.

Transport for London has offered a 3.4% pay rise and said it "welcomes further engagement with our unions", but said a reduction in the contractual 35-hour week "is neither practical nor affordable".

A separate dispute on the Docklands Light Railway will stop services on Tuesday and Thursday.

As various parts of RMT membership walk out on different days, London Underground services will not resume before 08:00 on Friday.

The last Tube strike to close the whole network took place in March 2023.

Last year, the mayor of London used £30m of Greater London Authority funds to avert a Tube strike at the last minute.

He was later accused of misleading the London Assembly over the figure until it appeared in budget papers and unions had been briefed.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk

Former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas waved an emotional goodbye to cycling, with his final ride in his home city.

The former Whitchurch High School pupil won the iconic French race in 2018, along with Olympic gold in Beijing, China, in 2008 and London in 2012.

But he was on more familiar terrain on Sunday, taking part in his final race - the Tour of Britain, which ended in Cardiff.

The final 122.2km (76 miles) stage started at the velodrome in Newport named after the 39-year-old and where crowds turned out to cheer him. It also passed his childhood cycling club, Maindy Flyers, before it ended in his hometown.

"A a whole club we're extremely proud, we've been fortunate that we've had a number of youngsters who have come through this club and who've gone on to achieve Olympic golds, world records world championships," said co-chairman of Maindy Flyers Alan Davies.

"But Geraint was the first, he was the one who showed the others the way.

"This is Geraint's legacy within cycling in Cardiff."

Mr Davies said it was almost 30 years to the day that Thomas first began cycling at Maindy, joining in late 1995.

He was his first coach, and in testament to the effect he has had on the sport in the city, many young riders are present to pay tribute to him.

"He's inspired so many children to join Maindy, it's just great what he's done," said 10-year-old Gwen.

"It's his last year and he's done really well."

Imogen, 12, said it gives her "a nice feeling" to know he started his career at the club.

"And then he went on to be an Olympian, Tour de France winner, and then is finishing his last race here," she added.

Raima used to go on bike rides with her dad, and "really liked beating him", with the success of Geraint Thomas allowing her to dream.

"It gives you a sense of hope and brings everyone together - it makes you want to do better," she said.

Speaking after the race Thomas said he had expected a good atmosphere for his final ride, "but this is something else".

He added it was "bonkers" that Newport's velodrome, where the race started, was now named after him.

He said fellow Welsh rider Nicole Cooke inspired him, and recalled thinking at the time "if she can do it, why can't other Welsh people do it", adding that the thought of young children looking at him and thinking that was "strange, but really nice".

He added that riding along Ben Swift was emotional.

"Swifty, who I started racing with when I was 12 [years-old] - we're 39 now, that's a long time.

"To ride in to the finish with him, I just broke down."

Thomas added that one of the most special moments of the ride in Cardiff was having his son Macs old enough to remember it.

"That's what gets me, I never thought I'd still be going when he's at the age to remember.

"I thought I would've stopped a couple years ago, so its nice that he can enjoy it."

His final race also featured a custom-made jersey carrying the name of those closest to him, along with a drawing by Macs.

"There's a lot of teammates, current and ex-teammates, Swifty, Mum and Dad - its nice.

"And on the back, Macs designed a picture. Apparently its me on the top step, so that's good."