Several days before the announcement of the pack’s composition for the 2014 Tour de France Saitama Criterium, Chris Froome, winner of the 100thTour, accepted the organisers’ invitation and will be present on 25th October.
 
His hunger for cycling shows no signs of dimming. Chris Froome had to withdraw from the Tour de France after a fall and an injury well before he was able to show off his talents on the mountain roads where he might have been able to give Vincenzo Nibali a run for his money.

He will still have the opportunity to finish his 2014 season on a familiar note because as title holder for the Saitama Criterium, the Team Sky leader has chosen to return to Japan. Since his premature exit in July, Froome has regained his physical form, picking up second place on theVuelta a Espana behind Alberto Contador, and is now preparing for the Road Racing World Championships in Ponferrada.

With or without the Rainbow Jersey, the Yellow Jersey winner of Le Tour 2013 will reacquaint himself, albeit more than 10,000 kilometres from the Mont Ventoux or Champs-Elysées, with a Tour de France atmosphere that already won him over last year. Equally valiant when faced with the presentation of the sumo wrestlers or in impressing the 200,000 spectators massed around the urban circuit that wound through Saitama, Froome has already signed up again to be present on 25th October.

“It’s a wonderful way to finish off a year that has been unforgettable,” he explained on completion of the first edition of the Saitama Critérium.

The second act promises to leave a selection of the main players on the Big Loop with just as memorable memories.