Chris Froome: The Tour de France remains the ultimate goal

Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) continues to see top performances in the  Tour de France as his over-riding goal and - assuming he is selected - the Briton would aim for stage wins.

Speaking to French specialist website DirectVelo during the recent Route d'Occitanie, won by teammate Mike Woods, Froome said that he had some minor physical challenges in the first months of the year, with one tendon playing up seriously in April.

However, after opting to skip the Volta a Cataluña and Tour of the Alps as a result, Froome then returned to racing at the Tour de Romandie.

“I’ve been improving little by little," he said. “The last six-seven weeks have been going well in training, I’ve worked well and without any problems. Things seem to be going in the right direction.”

At the Route d'Occitanie, Froome finished 40th overall after working for teammate and repeat outright winner Mike Woods. “Stage 1 was stressful," he told DirectVelo. "We needed all our strength to help our leaders and notably Corbin [Strong], whom we hoped to see win the stage.

“We had five guys up there in a front group of 25, it was a really nice collective performance."

Regarding the Tour de France, Israel-Premier Tech are expected to release their line-up at the end of this week.

However, the Briton seemed confident of his chances that he would be one of the eight riders selected, telling DirectVelo he would go to the Tour to try to win a stage: “That’s what motivates me.”

“The Tour remains the ultimate goal,” Froome continued. “It’s the race in which I’ve had my nicest feelings, where all the best riders in the world compete in their best form.

“Obviously I’m not going to go to the Tour to fight for the overall, but if I can try to go for a stage win, that would be great.”

Froome cited the case of Alpe d’Huez last year, where he finished third after taking part in the breakaway, as a case in point.

The 2023 Tour de France starts on July 1 in Bilbao.