Mountain man Egan Bernal caps meteoric rise with Tour victory

Bernal is widely tipped to go on to further Grand Tour success after this breakthrough win for South American cycling, but Brailsford is wary of the impact stardom may have on the young Colombian, Trend repots citing Guardian.

"The big thing is that the status of his life will change and at a relatively young age,” he said. "He’s got all his 20s to adapt to that. I think it will go one way or another for him. Some carry on and get used to the world they live in and everything they have to deal with and other people don’t.

"A lot of the guys who became successful for us were older, late 20s, and the life-change came after they got used to life at a certain level. When it happens younger you adapt quicker so you grow up in a different world from some of the other guys. His agent I know very well and is close to him. He’s got a good network around him and his coach is really important now. So we need to sit down and have a plan.”

Thomas, who was lying second overall in the 2017 edition when he was forced to abandon the race after a crash on stage nine, was proud of his efforts even though he was unable to retain his title. "[I was] second in the Tour de France two years ago, I was here with a broken collarbone and my arm in a sling and watching Froomey win his fourth, and really just disappointed not to be able to ride my bike, and I would’ve taken second then, but it just shows how times and expectations have moved on,” Thomas said. "But I think I can be proud of how I just managed to get in decent enough shape. This year has just been mainly downs, it hasn’t been a smooth ride at all, and even in the race it was one thing after the next. But I can be happy with it, I gave it everything, didn’t let the downs affect me and just kept pressing on. To be second to a teammate makes it OK. If it was Kruijswijk sitting on the top step, and I was second then for sure I would be a lot more disappointed.”