diff --git a/spanner/client.go b/spanner/client.go
index 210cb6c20f9..1f15cb01e2d 100644
--- a/spanner/client.go
+++ b/spanner/client.go
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ import (
 
 	"cloud.google.com/go/internal/trace"
 	vkit "cloud.google.com/go/spanner/apiv1"
-	"cloud.google.com/go/spanner/internal/backoff"
 	"google.golang.org/api/option"
 	sppb "google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/spanner/v1"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc"
@@ -410,43 +409,6 @@ func (c *Client) ReadWriteTransaction(ctx context.Context, f func(context.Contex
 	return ts, err
 }
 
-func runWithRetryOnAborted(ctx context.Context, f func(context.Context) error) error {
-	var funcErr error
-	retryCount := 0
-	for {
-		select {
-		case <-ctx.Done():
-			// Do context check here so that even f() failed to do so (for
-			// example, gRPC implementation bug), the loop can still have a
-			// chance to exit as expected.
-			return errContextCanceled(ctx, funcErr)
-		default:
-		}
-		funcErr = f(ctx)
-		if funcErr == nil {
-			return nil
-		}
-		// Only retry on ABORTED.
-		if isAbortErr(funcErr) {
-			// Aborted, do exponential backoff and continue.
-			b, ok := extractRetryDelay(funcErr)
-			if !ok {
-				b = backoff.DefaultBackoff.Delay(retryCount)
-			}
-			trace.TracePrintf(ctx, nil, "Backing off after ABORTED for %s, then retrying", b)
-			select {
-			case <-ctx.Done():
-				return errContextCanceled(ctx, funcErr)
-			case <-time.After(b):
-			}
-			retryCount++
-			continue
-		}
-		// Error isn't ABORTED / no error, return immediately.
-		return funcErr
-	}
-}
-
 // applyOption controls the behavior of Client.Apply.
 type applyOption struct {
 	// If atLeastOnce == true, Client.Apply will execute the mutations on Cloud
diff --git a/spanner/retry.go b/spanner/retry.go
index cc6400f621d..fa10ee5f019 100644
--- a/spanner/retry.go
+++ b/spanner/retry.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	"cloud.google.com/go/internal/trace"
 	"github.com/golang/protobuf/proto"
 	"github.com/golang/protobuf/ptypes"
 	"github.com/googleapis/gax-go/v2"
@@ -41,6 +42,58 @@ var DefaultRetryBackoff = gax.Backoff{
 	Multiplier: 1.3,
 }
 
+// spannerRetryer extends the generic gax Retryer, but also checks for any
+// retry info returned by Cloud Spanner and uses that if present.
+type spannerRetryer struct {
+	gax.Retryer
+}
+
+// onCodes returns a spannerRetryer that will retry on the specified error
+// codes.
+func onCodes(bo gax.Backoff, cc ...codes.Code) gax.Retryer {
+	return &spannerRetryer{
+		Retryer: gax.OnCodes(cc, bo),
+	}
+}
+
+// Retry returns the retry delay returned by Cloud Spanner if that is present.
+// Otherwise it returns the retry delay calculated by the generic gax Retryer.
+func (r *spannerRetryer) Retry(err error) (time.Duration, bool) {
+	delay, shouldRetry := r.Retryer.Retry(err)
+	if !shouldRetry {
+		return 0, false
+	}
+	if serverDelay, hasServerDelay := extractRetryDelay(err); hasServerDelay {
+		delay = serverDelay
+	}
+	return delay, true
+}
+
+// runWithRetryOnAborted executes the given function and retries it if it
+// returns an Aborted error. The delay between retries is the delay returned
+// by Cloud Spanner, and if none is returned, the calculated delay with a
+// minimum of 10ms and maximum of 32s.
+func runWithRetryOnAborted(ctx context.Context, f func(context.Context) error) error {
+	retryer := onCodes(DefaultRetryBackoff, codes.Aborted)
+	funcWithRetry := func(ctx context.Context) error {
+		for {
+			err := f(ctx)
+			if err == nil {
+				return nil
+			}
+			delay, shouldRetry := retryer.Retry(err)
+			if !shouldRetry {
+				return err
+			}
+			trace.TracePrintf(ctx, nil, "Backing off after ABORTED for %s, then retrying", delay)
+			if err := gax.Sleep(ctx, delay); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return funcWithRetry(ctx)
+}
+
 // isErrorClosing reports whether the error is generated by gRPC layer talking
 // to a closed server.
 func isErrorClosing(err error) bool {
diff --git a/spanner/retry_test.go b/spanner/retry_test.go
index 979f164e54c..27b8922bd36 100644
--- a/spanner/retry_test.go
+++ b/spanner/retry_test.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/golang/protobuf/proto"
 	"github.com/golang/protobuf/ptypes"
+	"github.com/googleapis/gax-go/v2"
 	edpb "google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/rpc/errdetails"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc/codes"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc/metadata"
@@ -40,3 +41,23 @@ func TestRetryInfo(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("<ok, retryDelay> = <%t, %v>, want <true, %v>", ok, gotDelay, time.Second)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestRetryerRespectsServerDelay(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	serverDelay := 50 * time.Millisecond
+	b, _ := proto.Marshal(&edpb.RetryInfo{
+		RetryDelay: ptypes.DurationProto(serverDelay),
+	})
+	trailers := map[string]string{
+		retryInfoKey: string(b),
+	}
+	retryer := onCodes(gax.Backoff{}, codes.Aborted)
+	err := toSpannerErrorWithMetadata(spannerErrorf(codes.Aborted, "transaction was aborted"), metadata.New(trailers))
+	maxSeenDelay, shouldRetry := retryer.Retry(err)
+	if !shouldRetry {
+		t.Fatalf("expected shouldRetry to be true")
+	}
+	if maxSeenDelay != serverDelay {
+		t.Fatalf("Retry delay mismatch:\ngot: %v\nwant: %v", maxSeenDelay, serverDelay)
+	}
+}