Chris Froome has insisted he is 'on the road to recovery' following his horror crash which saw him lose four pints of blood and required six-hours of surgery, and has admitted he feels lucky to be alive.

DANIEL BENSON - EDITOR-IN-CHIEF FOR CYCLINGNEWS.COM: Last Wednesday Chris Froome and the Team Ineos squad arrived in the outskirts of the French commune of Roanne.

The Welshman came off his bike around 30 kilometres from the end of stage four and received medical attention at the side of the road. He provided a positive update on Wednesday morning.

Froome had been treated at the University Hospital of St Etienne, where he underwent a six-hour operation to repair a fractured right femur, broken hip, fractured elbow and fractured ribs.

Geraint Thomas has been named joint team leader by INEOS for the Tour de France alongside Colombian Egan Bernal. That is despite his superior Grand Tour experience over his team-mate..

Some 24 hours before Team INEOS announced that Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal would start the Tour de France as joint leaders, the cycling team offered their defending champion to the media.

Earlier this week news broke that Dimension Data's team principal, Doug Ryder, ignored the recommendation by performance boss Rolf Aldag to include Cavendish in line-up.

Geraint Thomas joked he would be happy with an 'uneventful' Tour de France as long as a Team Ineos rider is stood on the top step in Paris at the end of the month.

Chris Froome admitted he is 'relieved' to be back home and will be following the Tour de France from his bed following the horror crash that left him seriously injured.

CHRIS MURPHY IN BRUSSELS: Geraint Thomas and his Ineos team-mates were beaten in a tense finish to Saturday's second stage of the Tour de France, a 27.6-kilometre time trial.

CHRIS MURPHY IN NANCY: Elia Viviani won stage four of the Tour de France in a sprint finish in Nancy as Deceuninck-Quick Step team-mate Julian Alaphilippe retained the yellow jersey.

Geraint Thomas survived the first day of racing through the climbs of the 2019 Tour de France but then suggested that team-mate Egan Bernal is favourite for the first summit finish on stage six.

Geraint Thomas took back control of the Tour de France on Thursday, with a surge of power taking him clear of his main rivals on the backbreaking finish to stage six in the Vosges mountains.

Geraint Thomas breathed a sigh of relief at the finish of stage eight of the Tour de France after he survived a team pile-up at the bottom of a fast downhill section on the approach to Saint-Etienne.

South African Daryl Impey added an individual stage win to his Tour de France happy memories when he prevailed at the end of a long breakaway from St Etienne on Sunday.

Geraint Thomas and Ineos team-mate Egan Bernal profited hugely as French rival Thibaut Pinot was caught in a group who lost 100 seconds on the 217.5km stage from Saint-Flour to Albi.

Geraint Thomas and Team Ineos had every reason to be satisfied as they reached the first rest day of the Tour de France in an enviable position. He is in second place in the general classification.

MATT LAWTON IN BAGNERES-DE-BIGORRE: The race for the big prize might have failed to ignite here on the first day in the Pyrenees but there was no shortage of fireworks

MATT LAWTON IN PAU: The sight of Julian Alaphilippe rising out of his saddle and powering up the steep ramp that came at the end of this individual time trial is sure to trouble Geraint Thomas .

MATT LAWTON ON THE COL DU TOURMALET: Owner of Ineos Jim Ratcliffe must have sat in the team car on Saturday afternoon and wondered if he had just bought a cycling team in decline.

Thomas has blamed a 'minor fuelling issue' on his seventh-placed finish during the Pyrenean stages over the weekend, which saw him twice left behind by his rivals.

The defending champion came off on a right-hander with around 130km of the 177km stage, which started and finished in Nimes, remaining. He was though soon able to rejoin the race.

Forecasters also predicted new temperatures highs in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, where the mercury is set to reach 104F (40C) for the first time on Thursday.

MATT LAWTON IN NIMES: There is a reluctance in France to imagine how the scenes on the Champs-Elysees might compare to the night of the 1998 World Cup final.

Trentin won by 36 seconds, while there was no change at the top of the general classification, with Julian Alaphilippe still leading ajnd Geraint Thomas trailing by 95 seconds.

MATT LAWTON IN GAP: Team Ineos go into three massive days in the Alps that will determine the outcome of the most mesmerising Tour de France in decades, without captain Luke Rowe.

MATT LAWTON IN VALLOIRE: To some extent it felt like normal service had been resumed here in the Alps, the sight of five Team Ineos riders leading the yellow jersey group up the final climb.

Thibaut Pinot's dream of becoming the first French winner of the Tour de France for 34 years is over after the Groupama-FDJ rider was forced to abandon early on stage 19 to Tignes.

MATT LAWTON IN PARIS: Wiggins and Thomas believe Team Ineos will continue to dominate the Tour de France with a young Colombian cyclist who could turn out to be the greatest in history.

The 34-year-old suffered multiple broken bones after he collided with a wall during this year's event, but is ahead in his recovery and is targeting next year's race as a potential return date.

Chris Froome has revealed that he does not remember any part of the horrific crash that almost cost him his life during a training ride in May.

Team Ineos sporting director Nicolas Portal has tragically passed away at the age of 40. A statement from Team Ineos said that the Frenchman died at his home in Andorra on Tuesday afternoon.

The Tour de France's organisers are focusing on a postponement of this year's race rather than a cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic. 'Le Tour' was set to roll out of Nice on June 27th.

The Tour de France and French Open have come under doubt after ministers stated they would only be held if fans can attend. Events in France gathering 5,000 people have been banned until September

The extra cash injection and prospect of thousands of new jobs comes as the firm is set to announce Jaguar and Land Rover production in booming China.

It's not every day an international luxury car company holds the global launch of its latest model in Britain — and brings over its top brass to do the honours.

This cat is so easy to live with, I grew into it like a much-loved jacket. Driving it quickly became second nature.

In its quest to become more Motoring upwardly mobile and cool, Vauxhall has unveiled its new small, but perfectly formed, upmarket urban runaround called . . . Adam.

Sultry pop star Lana del Rey took the wraps off Jaguar's flashy new F-Type sports car, pictured right, as a string of new British vehicles stole the Paris Motor Show from under the noses of the French this week.

I love the look of the new Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet which makes its world debut at the Los Angeles Motor Show on November 28 and will go on sale in Britain in spring.

James Bond star Daniel Craig performed a top secret mission right under the noses of the world's media at this week's royal global premier of the latest 007 movie, Skyfall, which goes on general release today.

The Aixam Coupe S (pictured) may look like a compact city car, but it is classed as a ‘light quadricycle’, which can be driven with a moped licence.

This is the fourth generation of the Honda CR-V, which has established itself as a mainstay of Middle Britain for adaptable family transport since the first generation arrived in Europe in 1997.

It accelerates from rest to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds and will cost around £77,000 when in showrooms early next year (for delivery in summer).

Production of the third generation Octavia started this month at the Mlada Boleslav plant in the Czech Republic, ahead of its March launch in Britain.

It will be in showrooms this spring, priced at £160,000, following its global unveiling at the Detroit Motor Show on January 14. Bentley describes it as its ' performance flagship convertible'.

Major car makers including Vauxhall, Nissan, Citroen and Volvo will exhibit a range of their latest and yet to launch vehicles as well as providing test drives at the Future Drive Motor Show.

What would you splash out on if your numbers came up? According to new research, for British car fans, nothing but a Bentley will do.

Mailonline has had an exclusive first drive of the astonishing new ‘green’ super-frugal car offering 2p a mile motoring that could swiftly put Osborne and the Treasury out of business.

RAY MASSEY: As controversial table-manners go, it certainly beats resting on your elbows. This remarkable stunt came as the dashing Earl of March hosted a sumptuous sponsors and press dinner.