Chris Froome says his dream scenario would be to win a stage of the 2021 Tour de France, but admits his primary goal is supporting his team.
The four-time Tour de France winner, who has been coming back from serious injuries after his 2019 crash, has been selected to ride his ninth edition of the French Grand Tour by his Israel Start-Up Nation team.
But Froome has not yet returned to his best form, so will be riding in support of the team’s general classification leader Michael Woods.
Froome, 36, said in his latest video on his YouTube channel: “It’s been almost a decade since I’ve been into the Tour in this kind of role, where I’m not thinking about trying to go for a result myself.
“I’m going to be there supporting the team as much as I can.”
While Froome, the winner of seven Grand Tours, with victories in all three three-week races, and is still not at his best after his career-threatening injuries, he say he is relishing the chance to ride the Tour after three years away from the race.
He said: “It’s going to be a fantastic experience for me being in the tour de France again. I really hope at least by being there and racing the Tour de France I can use that to lift me up to being much closer to where I need to be.”
Froome has been battling back after suffering multiple serious injuries during the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné, as he hopes to one day compete for general classification again.
While the Brit had hoped to be fit enough to compete for the overall at this year’s Tour, his progress has been slower than expected, forcing him to reassess his goals.
>>> Allan Peiper: 'I've seen a lot of champions come through my ranks but Tadej Pogačar is different'
He said: “I’m going to be trying to soak up as much as I can in terms of that racing that I’ve missed the last couple of years, that intensity.
“The dream scenario for me would be to try and go for a result on a stage, but that’s very much secondary at the moment. The first goal is looking after Woodsy and keeping him out of trouble.”
“You can expect to see me fetching some bottles over the next few weeks.”
