Eric hits the peloton – thanks to Jan!

Eric Dier has been getting on his virtual bike during lockdown – with a little pedal persuasion from Jan Vertonghen!

The pair hooked up on an app to take cycle rides together as the nation stayed at home to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

Thankfully, Eric, Jan and their team-mates have taken the first steps back to ‘normality’ with the implementation of the Premier League’s Step One of the Return to Training Protocol this week, enabling squads to train while maintaining social distancing. Contact training is not yet permitted.

The country went into lockdown in March. Eric has kept himself ticking over in terms of fitness with our remote training sessions and away from football, working in his new garden and playing games with the likes of Jan, Dele, Erik Lamela and Gio Lo Celso – taking to his bike with Jan.

“I’ve been playing chess with Jan and we’ve been cycling together on an app called Zwift,” he said. “Jan is really into his cycling and he’s trying to get me into it. I’m still not into watching it but I have enjoyed cycling with him. We’ve had a lot of fun with that.

“I’ve always said to him that cycling myself, I could quite enjoy, just not watching other people! We’ve cycled together for a few weeks now on this app and that’s been really enjoyable. I’ve suggested to him that he takes me on a cycling holiday and tries to sell it to me!

“It’s been card games with Dele, Coco (Erik Lamela) and Gio. That’s been fun as well.”

Eric’s friendship with Dele is well-documented – and that’s another new strand of life under lockdown.

He explained: “I’ve spent a lot of time with Dele on Facetime, that sort of thing and it’s strange, normally we’re never on the phone to each other because we see each other every day and talk about everything.

“Now, we’ve resorted to Facetime, had nice conversations, something different, but it’s not the same thing. It’s been nice to do that though. We’ve still done a lot of stuff, myself, Dele and Jan, played a lot of games, so we’ve still had that competitive edge every day!”