Geraint Thomas competed in his first Tour de France last year

Team Sky manager David Brailsford says Geraint Thomas has "really stepped up" to the Tour de France challenge and established himself in Europe.

Brailsford says the 24-year-old from Cardiff is now beginning to replicate his sterling track record on the road.

Thomas' early rides at the Tour de France received particularly glowing acclaim from his team manager.

"We've very, very happy with Geraint's performance in particular - he's ridden brilliantly," said Brailsford.

"His prologue was fantastic, his second place [in the third stage] was nothing short of phenomenal.

"To wear the white jersey [for best young rider] for the number of days that he did is brilliant.

"He was second on the overall classification for a long time and he's proved since that he's able to stay with the main group through the real big mountains and he's really stepped up."

Though Olympic and world champion Thomas has now established himself on the world stage, Brailsford is quick to stress that hard work lies ahead if Thomas is to parallel the enormous success he achieved as a track cyclist.

The experienced cycling coach - who is from Deiniolen in Gwynedd - believes certain aspects of Thomas' performance need to be worked on in order to compete with the best endurance racers.

"In terms of grand tours, he is still developing. I think he would need to develop his climbing, but that is coming along and going really well.

"But for this moment let's wait and see we he can get to. It's very exciting for him at the moment.

Since turning his attention to road cycling in 2009, Thomas has struggled to get to grips with mountain stages of competitions. After an impressive start to the Tour de France, he began to fall behind the leading pack once the riders arrived at the mountains.

"It's difficult to say (what he could go on to achieve), but he could definitely win some of the one-day classics which will take place in Belgium and northern Europe in April (next year), which would be phenomenal.

Brailsford believes Thomas is epitomising his fledgling team's mission. Team Sky was unveiled in February 2009 and has set out to develop talented young cyclists like Thomas.

"This team was created to try and develop young riders, and he's ridden brilliantly."

Thomas lies in 68th in the overall standings with four stages to go.

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