Geraint Thomas urges Bernal to only "come back at the right time"

Teammates at INEOS Grenadiers, Geraint Thomas has spoken about his teammate Egan Bernal, what he feels about the Colombian's recovery and how it compares to the injuries of Chris Froome in 2019.

Having been asked, during the recently-finished Tour de Romandie, he has pointed out: “It’s incredible. With Froome, it was such a bad accident and a long road back. Once he came back and wanted to improve everyone almost forgot how bad the injury was and it could be a similar thing with Egan. He’s improved so much, which is great, but it underestimates the damage that he did.”

Whilst Froome never managed to return to his top level, INEOS are working to make sure the same situation doesn't happen with Bernal. Thomas adds that expectation management - in light of the recent statements that the Colombian could return to competition in the coming months - is crucial: “I’m sure he’s got a good team around him to manage expectations so he comes back at the right time. It’s great to see him doing what he’s doing.”

“It’s holding him back, because he wants to be back with the best, just like all top athletes. You want to push, push, push but you need people to hold you back. So that you do it the right way and don’t have problems later on. I’m sure the team around him knows that," he concluded.

The duo were initially planned to ride the Tour de France together, however that will very likely not be the case. Thomas is still scheduled to be at the race which he won in 2018, but likely in a support role for Daniel Martínez and Adam Yates.