Chris Froome begins a massive 2014 for himself by attempting to defend his Tour of Oman title. However, in an inteview with teamsky.com, he says he is much more relaxed about his defense:

“I wouldn’t say I have the same kind of pressure that I had last year for Oman,” he admitted. “I’m a lot more relaxed coming into this season, but at the same time I feel just as eager and just as motivated to get stuck into the racing. I’m really looking forward to getting back into it.”

“Oman is always a place where you don’t quite have the same kind of pressure as in Europe in terms of the press and thousands of spectators. But it’s certainly going to be a high level of racing and from the competitors who are lining up there it’s shaping up to be a pretty tough race.

“I’ve felt good in training and I’m certainly hoping to have a good first outing.”

And the 28 year old is determined to prove that his 2013 was not a fluke:

“I want to back up everything I achieved last season and prove to people that I am a legitimate champion. Especially in this era of cycling, there’s so much doubt around what we’re doing and I sincerely want to prove to people they can believe in this sport again, believe in me, and believe in Team Sky. I hope last year’s not going to be a one-off for me because that would raise doubts.

“I want to back up my results for the next five years at least to prove that nothing was a fluke. My results will stand the test of time and I want to erase any doubt about them – that’s a massive motivation.”

However, earlier today it was announced that Froome would not race as much as he has opted not to defend his Criterium International title.

South African retreat

In order to prepare himself for arguably the biggest season of his career, he went to South Africa to get some tough but sunny miles in.

“We’ve mainly been training in and around Johannesburg but we’ve also done a week up in the mountains at a place called Crystal Springs. That’s up at altitude at 1800 metres with big climbs every day - so it definitely provided some decent riding.”

And in order to ensure his training went as smoothly as possible, teammate Konstantin Siutsou and driver/carer Claudio Lucchini came along with him.

“It’s been really nice having that backing from the team, and having someone like Kosta come out here too. He’s always someone who pushes you quite a bit in training and we did some really good rides together out there.”

Despite it only being February, Froome is sounding ominously strong and we will find out in Oman just how good he is at the present moment.