Team Sky are gearing up for the Tour de France and will head to the two traditional preparation races with great ambitions. Chris Froome targets a repeat win in the Criterium du Dauåhiné while Bradley Wiggins will try to add the Tour de Suisse to his impressive palmares.

Team Sky will send strong teams to both the Criterium du Dauphine and Tour de Suisse in June.

Chris Froome will defend his title at the Dauphine (8-15 June) after a block of training at altitude in Tenerife. Given the increased difficulty of this year's mountainous route he will be joined by a climbing-focused line-up as Team Sky target an impressive fourth win in a row at Dauphine. Richie Porte, runner-up last year, returns alongside Vasil Kiryienka, David Lopez, Mikel Nieve, Danny Pate, Bayern Rundfahrt winner Geraint Thomas and Xabier Zandio.

Bradley Wiggins will lead at the Tour de Suisse (14-22 June) bringing his strong form from an impressive victory at the Tour of California, which was a key target for his season. Supporting him will be three team-mates from his Stateside success - Joe Dombrowski, Christian Knees and Luke Rowe - three of the Giro d'Italia team - Dario Cataldo, Philip Deignan and Ben Swift - and Pete Kennaugh, part of last year's Tour-winning team.

Team Sky Team Principal Dave Brailsford said: "Both the Criterium du Dauphine and Tour de Suisse are WorldTour events and we are looking to perform in both races. Chris will be going for GC at the Dauphine and Bradley is going for GC at the Tour de Suisse.

"Bradley heads to Switzerland with a strong team after a great win in California and we've got the right group for the Dauphine, especially considering the nature of the course."

Brailsford explained that the races will also form part of a larger picture when it comes to picking the nine riders for the Tour de France in July.

"Both of these races will form part of our selection for the Tour" he added. "We have to name 13 riders in a long list during June and we'll do that from across the squad, including riders at the Route du Sud, not only those in the Dauphine and Tour de Suisse groups."