Geraint Thomas will make his final decision about competing in the individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire as soon as he returns to Europe from this weekend's World Tour races in Quebec and Montreal.

Thomas, who finished second overall behind Ineos teammate Egan Bernal in the Tour de France, had cited the World Championships time trial as a late-season goal.

Thomas took a break from racing immediately after the Tour, returning last month for the Deutschland Tour. Although his training program has been focused on time trials for the past few weeks, he confessed that the physical and mental toll of the Tour affects the quality of an athlete's work at this time of year.

"The Tour was my goal, and I came back and trained a little harder, but it's hard to keep that consistency," Thomas told Cycling News ahead of Friday's Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec.

"Because you end up doing a lot of things that you've been putting off since before the Tour, life in general. But at the same time, I don't want to do it just to race, just to run. If I do, I want to be competitive in a certain way.

The Yorkshire time trial title contender will be without 2018 winner Tom Dumoulin, while champion Rohan Dennis has yet to announce his participation.

"A top-10 finish would be a decent result, but I don't really like racing just to get a top-10 finish right now. [At least I want to be on the podium. We'll see how I feel when I come back after this race and a few days after that."

Despite his Tour de France victory, Thomas remains self-deprecating. At a press conference for the Quebec Grand Prix earlier this week, the Welshman smiled broadly when a competitor used the word "modest" to describe his past performance in Canada.

"I've probably only finished once or twice, and it's not my best record," Thomas admitted.

Before Friday's start in Quebec's Grand Allee, Thomas was equally cautious about his prospects this time around.

"I'll see how it goes, I've been mentally and physically tough from November until the end of the Tour, so when the switch comes after the Tour it's hard to get moving again. I'm just going to enjoy the race and try to finish it."

He eventually finished 97th and will race again on Sunday in Montreal.

Thomas' recent break was arguably his first sustained rest since the fall of 2017, as one season seemed to flow almost immediately into the next amid the demands that befell Thomas, who had just won the Tour de France a year earlier, in July. When he took off the mantle of defending champion, he must have realized the enormity of the burden.

"Of course, after the Tour it's hard physically, but even more so mentally and emotionally," Thomas said.

"It was a completely different year, with the Tour and all. Like last year, the months after the Tour were a lot of fun and we talked about the Tour every other day. But every day we talk about the Tour, and then we get back on the bike and get ready for the Tour again.