A MAN with the same name as cyclist Geraint Thomas has received tonnes of tweets congratulating him for winning the Tour de France.

Geraint Thomas, who is a special effects lecturer at the University of South Wales and lives in Penarth, has been retweeting messages with the hashtag #NotACyclist.

He tweeted: “Maybe the other GT should wear a T-Shirt with "#imnotalecturer" on it?”

The 30-year-old’s Twitter handle is @GeraintThomas, compared to @GeraintThomas86, who has a official blue tick.

But the mix-up is not a new phenomenon.

Mr Thomas, from the Rhondda valleys but lives in Penarth, said: “The whole mix up has been happening since about 2011, so quite a while back, except people didn't make as many mistakes then as they are now.

“I've been loosely following it and, with the help of friends texting me with texts like "Get ready for your twitter!", I was expecting a few tweets. Though that's a bit of an understatement now.

“The actual Geraint Thomas did laugh when I told him that I'd be expecting a bicycle-type Christmas present after the amount of tweets I'd been receiving."

Mr Thomas tweeted the cyclist, who replied: "lol."

“I'm not actually a cyclist myself, nor did I have a large interest in cycling, but I have plenty of friends and family that are very much into their cycling - my brother-in-law being an avid cyclist," he added.

“Who knows, you may see me on two wheels soon enough.”