When the 35-year-old arrived back at Freiburg train station after a six-week trip including the Tour de France and an ill-fated Olympics due to a positive coronavirus test, his young French bulldog was overjoyed.

“Home sweet home after almost six weeks. What a wild trip that was,” Geschke tweeted, adding a video of the dog’s over-exuberance on the platform.

Geschke tested positive for coronavirus on July 23, a day before the Olympic road race, despite being vaccinated. The former Tour stage winner had to go into a quarantine hotel, which he compared to a “prison”, and was allowed to fly home on Sunday after two negative tests.