Chris Froome will return to racing at the Criterium du Dauphine, which starts in Aurillac in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on Sunday, after opting not to defend his Giro d’Italia title.
The Team Ineos rider did a block of training at altitude in Tenerife as he continues his build-up towards the Tour de France, which he will be aiming to win for a record equalling fifth time.
Froome, who won the Dauphine in 2013, 2015 and 2016, said the training camp went well and that he felt ready for racing.
“This approach and build-up to July is something we’ve tried and tested quite a few times over the years now. Now I’m looking forward to pinning on some numbers at the Dauphine.”
Although he was unsure of his form given that he had not raced recently, he said he would like to be fighting for the overall win.
“The Tour group as a whole are moving forward and looking really good and ready for the next couple of months ahead. So hopefully we’ll have a really strong outing at the Dauphine.”
According to the provisional start list, he will be supported by Vasil Kiryienka, Michal Kwiatkowski, Gianni Moscon, Wout Poels, Ian Stannard and Dylan van Baarle.
Last year’s Tour de France runner-up Tom Dumoulin is another making his return to racing this weekend.
The Sunweb leader was forced to abandon the Giro after crashing on the fourth stage and hurting his knee.
The 71st Critérium du Dauphiné ends in Champéry in Switzerland.
Watch the live stream here.
Chris Froome (pictured at last year’s Tour de France) will return to racing at the Criterium du Dauphine, which starts in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on Sunday. Photo: ASO/Pauline Ballet
View the provisional teams below:
Vital Concept-B&B Hotels
Pierre Rolland (Fra)
Yoann Bagot (Fra)
Maxime Cam (Fra)
Arnaud Courteille (Fra)
Cyril Gautier (Fra)
Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra)
Quentin Pacher (Fra)
(R) Bert De Backer (Bel)
(R) Patrick Müller (Swi)
Team Ineos
Chris Froome (GBr)
Vasil Kiryienka (Blr)
Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol)
Gianni Moscon (Ita)
Wout Poels (Ned)
Ian Stannard (GBr)
Dylan van Baarle (Ned)
(R) Kenny Elissonde (Fra)
(R) Ben Swift (GBr)
Mitchelton-Scott
Adam Yates (GBr)
Jack Haig (Aus)
Damien Howson (Aus)
Daryl Impey (RSA)
Luka Mezgec (Slo)
Nicholas Schultz (Aus)
Dion Smith (NZl)
(R) Tsgabu Grmay (Eth)
Gebremaryam
AG2R La Mondiale
Romain Bardet (Fra)
Mikael Cherel (Fra)
Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra)
Alexandre Geniez (Fra)
Alexis Gougeard (Fra)
Oliver Naesen (Bel)
Clement Venturini (Fra)
(R) Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra)
(R) Clément Chevrier (Fra)
UAE Team Emirates
Daniel Martin (Irl)
Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor)
Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col)
Simone Petilli (Ita)
Edward Ravasi (Ita)
Rory Sutherland (Aus)
Oliviero Troia (Ita)
(R) Simone Consonni (Ita)
(R) Diego Ulissi (Ita)
Deceuninck-QuickStep
Julian Alaphilippe (Fra)
Rémi Cavagna (Fra)
Tim Declercq (Bel)
Philippe Gilbert (Bel)
Alvaro Hodeg (Col)
Zdenek Stybar (Cze)
Petr Vakoc (Cze)
(R) Kasper Asgreen (Den)
(R) Mikkel Frølich Honoré (Den)
Bora-Hansgrohe
Emanuel Buchmann (Ger)
Shane Archbold (NZl)
Cesare Benedetti (Ita)
Sam Bennett (Irl)
Felix Großschartner (Aut)
Gregor Mühlberger (Aut)
Christoph Pfingsten (Ger)
(R) Oscar Gatto (Ita)
(R) Pawel Poljanski (Pol)
Astana Pro Team
Jakob Fuglsang (Den)
Davide Ballerini (Ita)
Hernando Bohorquez (Col)
Hugo Houle (Can)
Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa)
Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz)
Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den)
(R) Dario Cataldo (Ita)
(R) Nikita Stalnov (Kaz)
Cofidis Solutions Credits
Nacer Bouhanni (Fra)
Darwin Atapuma (Col)
Natnael Berhane (Eri)
Nicolas Edet (Fra)
Jesper Hansen (Den)
Stéphane Rossetto (Fra)
Geoffrey Soupe (Fra)
(R) Pierre Luc Perichon (Fra)
(R) Mathias Le Turnier (Fra)
Movistar Team
Nairo Quintana (Col)
Imanol Erviti (Spa)
Ruben Fernandez (Spa)
Nelson Oliveira (Por)
Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg)
Rafael Valls (Spa)
Carlos Verona (Spa)
(R) Jorge Arcas (Spa)
(R) Carlos Barbero (Spa)
Groupama-FDJ
Thibaut Pinot (Fra)
William Bonnet (Fra)
David Gaudu (Fra)
Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra)
Rudy Molard (Fra)
Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi)
Anthony Roux (Fra)
(R) Romain Seigle (Fra)
(R) Antoine Duchesne (Can)
Team Jumbo-Visma
Steven Kruijswijk (Ned)
Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned)
Lennard Hofstede (Ned)
Sepp Kuss (USA)
Neilson Powless (USA)
Wout Van Aert (Bel)
Maarten Wynants (Bel)
(R) Jonas Vingegaard (Den)
(R) Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned)
Trek-Segafredo
Richie Porte (Aus)
Julien Bernard (Fra)
Koen de Kort (Ned)
Niklas Eg (Den)
Toms Skujins (Lat)
Peter Stetina (USA)
Edward Theuns (Bel)
(R) Will Clarke (Aus)
EF Education First
Michael Woods (Can)
Alberto Bettiol (Ita)
Simon Clarke (Aus)
Logan Owen (USA)
Julius van den Berg (Ned)
Tejay Van Garderen (USA)
James Whelan (Aus)
(R) Daniel McLay (GBr)
(R) Matti Breschel (Den)
Katusha-Alpecin
Steff Cras (Bel)
Jens Debusschere (Bel)
Alex Dowsett (GBr)
José Gonçalves (Por)
Ruben Guerreiro (Por)
Nils Politt (Ger)
Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den)
(R) Pavel Kochetkov (Rus)
(R) Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus)
Lotto Soudal
Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel)
Sander Armee (Bel)
Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor)
Jens Keukeleire (Bel)
Tomasz Marczynski (Pol)
Remy Mertz (Bel)
Harm Vanhoucke (Bel)
(R) Adam Hansen (Aus)
Bahrain-Merida
Sonny Colbrelli (Ita)
Chun Kai Feng (Tpe)
Mark Padun (Ukr)
Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut)
Luka Pibernik (Slo)
Dylan Teuns (Bel)
Jan Tratnik (Slo)
(R) Phil Bauhaus (Ger)
(R) Marcel Sieberg (Ger)
CCC Team
Serge Pauwels (Bel)
Pawel Bernas (Pol)
Alessandro De Marchi (Ita)
Jonas Koch (Ger)
Joseph Rosskopf (USA)
Laurens ten Dam (Ned)
Riccardo Zoidl (Aut)
(R) Lukasz Owsian (Pol)
(R) Victor De La Parte (Spa)
Dimension Data
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor)
Stephen Cummings (GBr)
Stefan De Bod (RSA)
Nicholas Dlamini (RSA)
Jacques Willem Janse Van Rensburg (RSA)
Jaco Venter (RSA)
Julien Vermote (Bel)
(R) Scott Davies (GBr)
(R) Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Eri)
Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team
Guillaume Martin (Fra)
Bart De Clercq (Bel)
Thomas Degand (Bel)
Fabien Doubey (Fra)
Odd Christian Eiking (Nor)
Xandro Meurisse (Bel)
Marco Minnaard (Ned)
(R) Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel)
(R) Wesley Kreder (Ned)
Team Arkea-Samsic
Warren Barguil (Fra)
Maxime Bouet (Fra)
Anthony Delaplace (Fra)
André Greipel (Ger)
Kevin Ledanois (Fra)
Jérémy Maison (Fra)
Florian Vachon (Fra)
(R) Amael Moinard (Fra)
(R) Connor Swift (GBr)
Team Sunweb
Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den)
Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger)
Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned)
Casper Pedersen (Den)
Rob Power (Aus)
Florian Stork (Ger)
Martijn Tusveld (Ned)
(R) Tom Dumoulin (Ned)
(R) Roy Curvers (Ned)
