Chris Froome may not have won as many races in the first half of the season as he did in 2014 but the Brit remains confident for his Tour de France title defence. In fact, he claims that his numbers are slightly better than they were 12 months ago, and overall he expects himself to be stronger than he was when he took his maiden title.

With a back injury, crashes and a chest infection, Chris Froome definitely hasn't had a smooth build-up to the Tour de France but before hitting the deck in the Criterium du Dauphiné, he managed to demonstrate that he is currenly the best climber and time triallist among the GC contenders for this year's Tour de France. Going into his title defence which starts on Saturday, he is confident that he is at a level that will allow him to challenge for the overall victory.

However, he is under no illusions that it will be a difficult task to repeat last year's victory.

“Winning the Tour de France for the first time is a huge undertaking, just consider that only two Brits in the race’s 100 years have managed to do it. That shows how hard it is,” CyclingWeekly.co.uk reports him to having said. “I understand how hard it is to go back.”
 

In February, Froome defended his title in the Tour of Oman and in May he also took a second consecutive Tour de Romandie victory. However, his performance in the Volta a Catalunya was hampered by a back injury and the crash prevented him from defending his win in the Criterium du Dauphiné.

Nonetheless, he feels that he is stronger than he was 12 months ago.

“I’m able to test myself on certain climbs and with training efforts in Tenerife and the Cote d’Azur, that’s very useful to see where I stand compared to the same point last year,” Froome said. “In fact, the numbers are the same, if not a little bit better. Working on things that I’ve not worked on as much with the gym work and off bike stuff, I’d like to think I’m getting stronger compared to 2013."