Froome to make familiar start to 2017 season

There will be no surprises in Chris Froome's early season schedule as the three-time Tour de France champion heads to Australia in order to avoid the European winter.

Froome will compete in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race at the end of January, before looking to defend his Herald Sun Tour title the following week.

He will then duck out of riding either of Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico as he spends time training in South Africa, and make his 2017 European debut at the Volta a Catalunya, in March.

And after ruling out a Giro d'Italia bid, the 31-year-old is also likely to follow his usual Tour de France preparation of racing the Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine.

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Image credit: Eurosport

But Froome admitted the route for this year's Grande Boucle is not entirely to his liking.

"It's a programme that I'm used to," he said.

"Let's say it's a very different Tour to usual. There are only three mountain finishes and only one of them is long and hard.

"I think everything will be decided on that one day, also because the time trials are very short. It'll be a more open race and that could make it spectacular to watch."

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