In the first of a series of columns for BBC Sport through the course of the race, Thomas explains the excitement of racing the Tour on home soil, why Cavendish could win two of the first three stages, and his role in Froome's bid for a second straight overall victory.
"He was so excited — I can't even explain the excitement," his wife said.
The skill involved, coupled with the high-octane excitement of quadcopters winging through space at high speeds, goes a long way towards explaining the excitement around drone racing.
The high stiffness of tendons which results in linear pitch motion of TLPWT hull (less than 0.02 degrees) and tower (less than 0.25 degrees) can explain the limited excitement of the tower first bending mode.
"That's a birder's equivalent to seeing an aardvark!" Karl said, explaining the excitement.
Perhaps that explains the excitement over new products.
The third, frequently repeated by Tony Blair, is that the next election will be decided by who has the best policies.All of this goes some way to explain the flurry of excitement over the launch last week of a new policy website by Alan Milburn and Charles Clarke, neither of them known for being among Mr Brown's admirers.
This may partly explain the noticeable lack of excitement in the air around the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI, the second pope to visit here after the historic and well-remembered trip 14 years ago by John Paul II, the first a pope ever made here.
The relative rarity of world premieres at the Metropolitan Opera does not alone explain the buildup of good will, genuine excitement and high expectation over "The First Emperor," the opera by the Chinese-American composer Tan Dun, which had its premiere on Thursday night, conducted by the composer.
Testosterone, of course, is linked to sexual excitement, which would explain the overheated tone of those Barclays emails.
