Chris Froome (Team Sky) has yet to finalise his Grand Tour plans for 2018 but the British riderīs main focus will remain on the Tour de France as he seeks to add a fifth title to his ever-growing palmares. At the route presentation at the Palais des Congres in Paris on Tuesday, Froome watched on as Christian Prudhomme and the ASO lined up to throw everything, including the proverbial kitchen sink, at the Tourīs defending champion. Romain Bardet, one of Froomeīs select GC rivals, looked stunned as Prudhomme unleashed an almost shock-and-awe barrage of stages that included cobbles, coastal roads, gravel sectors, three mountain-top finishes, blockbuster stages in the Alps and the Pyrenees, and two time trials. ASO left very little in their arsenal. Perhaps the greatest concern for Froome and the rest of the GC contenders will be the opening nine days of competition. The Vendée Grand Depart will ensure that the opening weekend of the race will be a fraught affair, with no individual time trial to settle the nerves or the standings. The 35km team time trial on stage 3 offers Froome to chance to open the throttle and put the likes of Bardet, Pinot and Uran on the back foot before two ascents of the Mur de Bretagne on stage 6 rattle the peloton. However, itīs stage 9 to Roubaix, with its 21.7 kilometres of pavé, that will keep riders awake for the next few months.ADVERTISEMENT `Itīs tough and I wouldnīt expect anything else from the Tour de France organisers, especially the first eight or nine days,` Froome told Cyclingnews after an impromptu photoshoot to show off his 2017 Velo dīOr. `Itīs going to be very dangerous in the north-west of France, before we hit any of the big mountains. The wind could be a massive factor up there and with the GC being so close, we could see the race torn to pieces up there. `Thereīs the inclusion of quite a substantial cobble stage and we could see a lot happening. Then thereīs the stage with a gravel section and thereīs a lot to ...
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