Thursday 30 October 2014 14:53, UK
Chris Froome has hinted he may not ride the 2015 Tour de France after the route for next year’s race was revealed on Wednesday.
The British rider, who won the race in 2013, may choose to focus on the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana instead due to the lack of individual time-trialling kilometres in the Tour.
The Tour features five true mountain-top finishes, another uphill finish in the Pyrenees and an additional mountain stage in the Alps, which are offset by only one 14km solo race against the clock.
And Froome says the Giro, which features a 60km individual time trial, may be a more suitable race in 2015.
"The team and I will have to give it some careful consideration before we make any commitments to which of the grand tours I will compete in," the Team Sky rider said on his official website.
Next year's Tour is going to be about the mountains. There's very little emphasis on time-trialling which means the race will be decided up in the high mountains.
"Next year's Tour is going to be about the mountains. There's very little emphasis on time-trialling which means the race will be decided up in the high mountains.
"With six mountain-top finishes (including the finish at Cauterets) it is going to be an aggressive and massively demanding race.
"I see myself as quite a balanced GC (general classification) rider and the Giro with its inclusion of a long TT (time-trial) of 60km and tough uphill finishes will make it a well-balanced race which suits me well.
"If I did the Giro I may also be able to get myself back to top shape for the Vuelta and go there with a realistic chance of aiming for the win."
If he does target the Giro, which takes place in May, he believes he may be able to peak again later in the year for the the Vuelta a Espana, where he has twice finished second.
He added: "In the past I've only targeted one grand tour each season but it could be a good opportunity for me to focus seriously on two.
"It's still early days though and we'll have to sit down and put our heads together as a team to work out what 2015 is going to look like for us."
