trevim said:
I loved when he won a stage with a climb in it in the mighty Tour Down Under and he was immediately hyped to win Liege. That's usually the sort of priceless stuff that reflects wrong on non brittish fans (like myself) and help build a negative image of arrogance towards British/Sky riders. That's why I personally find it hard to care for riders like Thomas or Wiggins.
Hype is, for the most part, out of their control. It happens a lot on this forum e.g.
Is [insert name] the new Eddy Merckx?
How many monuments will [insert name] win?
and I don't think that is specific to British riders. Of course some of it is tongue in cheek...
I think Thomas is a pretty likeable guy so to someone to suggest they hate him seems somewhat surprising.