Chris Froome will return to the Tour de Romandie where he took one of several stage race wins in his build-up to his 2013 Tour de France victory. The Brit and his Sky team will use it as some kind of dress rehearsal for the big event in July as he will line up alongside most of his key support riders for the Tour.

After missing out on Tirreno-Adriatico participation and being firmly beaten at the Volta a Catalunya, Chris Froome has not had the kind of dominant success he had during his impressive 2013 season. Having been set back by a back injury, the Brit has been unable to reach his first targets of the year but now hopes to get his campaign back on track when he lines up to defend his title at the Tour de Romandie at the end of this month.

Last year Froome dominated the Swiss stage race by winning the opening mountain prologue to take the leader's jersey that he defended all the way to the finish. In the race's queen stage, he rode away from all his rivals and picked Simon Spilak who was already up the road, up along the way, with the pair sharing the spoils at the finish line. He ended the race by performing better than any other GC rider in the final time trial to take his third stage race victory of the season.

The Swiss race has played a special role in the last few years as the winner of Romandie has gone on to win the Tour de France three years in a row. For this reason, the winner of the race will get special attention and Froome hopes to be the one to continue the recent trend.

Team Sky will use the race as a dress rehearsal for the Tour de France as they will line up the core of their roster for July's race. With illness forcing him to skip the Giro, Richie Porte will now focus his season entirely on the Tour de France and he will be an important domestique for Froome in the Swiss mountains as he has now recovered from his health issues.

Mikel Nieve, David Lopez and Vasil Kiryienka are all expected to offer crucial support in France in July and they will all be at Froome's side in Romandie as weel. The team is completed by neo-pro Nathan Earle, Luke Rowe and Xabier Zandio.

Before lining up in Romandie, Froome will make a rare appearence in a one-day race as he will be at the start race of Liege-Bastogne-Liege for the second year in a row.