'We're being cautious to ensure he has a good recovery' – Uncertainty remains over Tom Pidcock's return after ravine fall

Tom Pidcock pronounced himself "very lucky to be OK" after his potentially catastrophic fall into a ravine at last week's Volta a Catalunya.

But for all Pidcock's insistence that he is alright, the team is taking a cautious approach to his recovery. His Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling team boss Doug Ryder has now said that it is not yet clear when he'll be able to start riding again.

Speaking to Domestique, he said: “There’s no firm idea or understanding when he will be back on a bike or racing at the moment. We’re just trying to get the fluid off the knee and the swelling down and all that kind of stuff, so we just have to wait.

He added: “As the swelling goes down, we can start to use the CT scans to understand more of the details. There’s been some trauma there, but it all depends on how he responds, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

“We’d rather be a bit more cautious," he said. "The knee has many joints and facets to it, so you’ve got to be quite cautious around that. We’re being cautious to make sure that he has a good recovery, and we don’t push it too early.”

After a post-crash medical evaluation, Pidcock's team announced that he'd hurt his wrist and knee and had sustained bone and ligament damage. Pidcock himself posted images of his swollen knee on social media and added: "I'm going to self-proclaim as a ninja crasher, 60kph off a mountain road and I'm relatively OK."

Pidcock was one of a number of riders to come down on the descent of the penultimate climb on stage five of the Spanish stage race, which was won that day, and overall, by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). He had been sitting in third place on GC at the start of the day, but lost more than 30 minutes as he rode carefully to the finish. He did not start the next day.

Following Catalunya, the Yorkshire rider was due to resume racing in Belgium at De Brabantse Pijl – scene of Pidcock's first professional victory – on 17 April, before going on to race the Ardennes Classics and then the Tour de France in July.

However, any racing this month now hangs in the balance as his team try to ascertain the full extent of any damage.