TOUR de France winner Geraint Thomas will leave Wales on Monday to prepare for another crack at the crown.

The 33-year-old is currently in Cardiff but will travel to France next week to build towards the rescheduled event.

Thomas was champion in 2018 and runner-up to teammate Egan Bernal last year.

His role for Team Ineos in 2020 could well be a supporting role given that they still boast Colombian Bernal on the roster along with Britain’s four-time winner Chris Froome, who missed out last year through injury.

The preparations now crank up for the August 29 start date in Nice after the Tour was delayed from June because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We're all geared up for hopefully the Tour happening," said Thomas. "We've got a start date now and that gives us something to work towards. I'm going to head back out to France on Monday."

Thomas added during a live Facebook chat: "We'll be back out there, can train on the roads there - at the moment anyway that's what the French Government are saying - so looking forward to it."

The UCI, cycling’s governing body, have announced a revised global schedule that sees the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana overlapping in October.

"It's great if it can happen. Obviously it's extremely condensed and there's a lot of races,” said Thomas about the new calendar.

"Maybe the only negative is the fact the Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a Espana and Paris-Roubaix are overlapping, which isn't ideal.

"If we can get all those races in that would be phenomenal - but maybe it's wishful thinking."