Geraint Thomas believes four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome will find it ‘weird’ when he leaves Team Ineos for Israel Start-Up Nation at the end of the season.

Froome recently announced he will be departing Ineos at the end of the 2020 campaign after ten successful years with the outfit formerly known as Team Sky.

And while Thomas feels the new direction could be a positive for Froome, he also recognises some adjustments will need to be made.

Speaking on the Watts Occuring podcast, he said: "It will be weird for him, though, as well, I think – more weird, suddenly [being] in a different environment. Phwoah, it’ll be some change, that.

"It’s a massive change, isn’t it. There are a lot of things here that we have so dialled that, being honest, he’ll be taking a step back on a lot of things, going to that team.

"But then you see a lot of riders step up because they’re in a new environment with a new challenge."

Froome won the Tour in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, before teammate Thomas clinched the 2018 title.

The 35-year-old Kenyan-born rider then suffered a severe crash in the lead-up to last year’s Tour and did not ride.

Team Ineos rider Egan Bernal then went on to win the race and in doing so became the youngest winner of the Tour for more than 100 years, aged 22.

As a result of the multiple leaders in the team, Froome decided it was in his best interest to leave Ineos and take the leadership role elsewhere.