Tour de France champion Egan Bernal said Wednesday he will reconsider his training program so he can defend his title after new dates were announced for this year's race.

Organizers announced earlier on Wednesday the start of the Tour was being pushed back to the end of August in response to the Coronavirus lockdown in France.

"We have 4 and a half months to get back to 100 per cent," Bernal posted on Instagram. "It is time to rethink all the training and start with more motivation than ever to get to this date in the best form."

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@letourdefrance , la carrera más importante del mundo. Acaba de anunciar que se va a posponer esta carrera hasta el 29 de Agosto, esto quiere decir que nos quedan 4 meses y medio para llegar de nuevo al ?% de forma, es hora de replantear todo el entrenamiento de nuevo e iniciar con más motivación que nunca para llegar a esta fecha con el mejor estado de forma. Queda mucho tiempo, pero seguro con @teamineos seguiremos trabajando duro, con calma, con mucha paciencia e inteligencia, para volver a estar en la línea de salida con la conciencia tranquila de haber hecho el trabajo Justo.

A post shared by  Egan Bernal (@eganbernal) on Apr 15, 2020 at 12:00pm PDT

Bernal said his team, Ineos, "will continue to work hard, calmly, with a lot of patience and intelligence, to be back on the starting line with a clear conscience having done the right job."

The race, originally scheduled for June 27 to July 19, has been moved to August 29 to September 20 because of the ban on mass events in France.

Bernal, the first Latin American and Colombian to win the Tour, has been confined in central Colombia since returning from Europe. He returned home after Ineos withdrew from Paris-Nice, where he was also the defending champion, following the death of their sports director Nicolas Portal.

In the last few days, Bernal has posted videos on social media showing him training on an fixed bike. He recently took part in the team's virtual race with Chris Froome and winner Rohan Dennis.