Chris Froome: Tour de France "the biggest challenge of my career"

Froome failed to win at the Criterium du Dauphiné, where he is accustomed to acclimatising to conditions for the main competition.

However, Froome was unpeturbed, saying:

"I'm not the superstituious type, to think that winning the Dauphiné is a precursor to winning the Tour.

"It's certainly good for the morale and the confidence to win your last race before the Tour but I don't think it's a prerequisite."

Froome also said that he had not overexerted himself so far this season, in order to keep fresh for the later stages

"I have been very light on race days this year - going into the Dauphiné I was on 19 race days, but that has nbeen a conscious decision to keep me fresher for what's to come.

“Potentially with the Tour and the Vuelta a España afterwards it could be a busy summer of racing. It’s worked in the past going into this part of the season fresher. I feel the Dauphiné was just what I needed in terms of intensity and it was a very intense Dauphiné – especially the back end of it. When we hit the mountains it was a full-on race and it will have moved me on, condition-wise, a lot.”

Froome is under no illusions of the difficulty of what lays ahead of him, and the slightly unsual format of the Tour this year:

“I genuinely think this year’s Tour route presents the biggest challenge to me that I’ve faced in my career to date. It’s an open course and the level of my rivals is higher than it has ever been. It will be a much closer race in July, more hard fought than we’ve seen in the last few years. I think what strikes me most is the lack of time-trial kilometres.”

Froome is aiming to win his third successive Tour, knowing that only four athletes have achieved such a feat. Froome said:

“I’m aware of those numbers. It’s already been such a big goal to try and win back- to-back Tours as I did last year. To do it again would be massive for me. It seems to be becoming a bigger challenge every year and this year is no different.”