Team Ineos sport director Nicholas Portal said that after his crash at this year's Criterium du Dauphiné, team leader Chris Froome will find it difficult to return to the highest level, but the British rider will be back in 2020 with his fifth He said his goal is to win the Tour de France.

In a wide-ranging interview with French website Cyclism'Actu this week, Portal said that Team Ineos has many chiefs and up-and-coming young riders, but while it may not look that Indian from the outside, they are part of a harmonious team and he is happy that everyone is looking in the same direction.

One of those young riders, Egan Bernal, won the summer Tour de France, finishing ahead of 2018 champion Geraint Thomas.

"The big crash at the Dauphiné was unfortunate for 'Froome,'" Portal told Cyclism'Actu.

"But with Chris, his goal will be to compete in the 2020 Tour. The best way for him to recover as quickly as possible is to do it right. He wants to make history by winning his fifth race. I think he has time, but it's going to be difficult."

"I think he will recover, but it will be difficult for him to recover fully, that is, to 100% as an athlete," Portal continued. 'We of course hope he recovers and we support him 100 percent. But what happened to him is very serious, and just being able to ride a bike like he has the last few weeks is already a big achievement

Signing 2019 Giro d'Italia winner Richard Kalapas off-season has added to the already solid Team Ineos mix has added another proven Grand Tour winner to the mix, but Portal sees having a capable leader as an advantage rather than a difficulty.

"We have to think about the future and Richard wanted to join the team.

"We have proven winners in Flouimy and Gelant, and we also have Egan. But we also have to look to the future of riders like Pavel [Sivakov] and Karapas. I don't know how much longer Flouimy and 'G' will be at the top level, but no matter when that will be, we have to be ready." [The teams around us are getting stronger. If you look at how Jumbo Visma went from a very good team to a very strong team for 2020 in just a few months, we have to be ready too."

"It is the same with teams like Movistar, we need to strengthen our team and think about the future.

Along with Bernal and Sivakov, Portal named Ivan Sosa, Filippo Ganna, and Tao Geoghegan Hart, all players in the team who are likely to continue to get better, but he denied any future leadership issues.

"Everyone is at different stages of their career. It's not the first time we have a lot of talent on the team, from young players to older players. And everything seems to be going well."

"We try to mix young and experienced riders in the races so they can learn. Investing in young riders is really effective," Portal said.

"This year we've seen young riders who are hungry and can do great things on the bike. There's definitely something going on.

"Egan is special, he can win at 20 or 21 years old. It may take another year or two to see what Ivan, Filippo, or Pavel can do, but we can already see how hard they work and that they are already winning."