Today Chris Froome will start his 2014 racing campaign in the Tour of Oman and the reigning Tour champion used the opportunity of the pre-race press conference to announce his race schedule. Being very similar to last year's, it includes the novelty of the Volta a Catalunya while the removal of the Pompeiana means that he is likely to skip Milan-Sanremo.

Chris Froome hasn't raced since his unsuccessful outing at the World Championships but now it is time for the reigning Tour de France winner to get back in action. For the second year in a row, Froome will start his racing campaign in the Tour of Oman where he took his first ever stage race win 12 months ago.

Froome will be supported by a very strong team that mostly consists of riders that will be at his side throughout most of the year, most importantly in July where he targets a second overall win in La Grande Boucle. However, Froome insists that there is less pressure to perform this time around as there is no longer a need to prove to his team that he capable of being a captain as there is no longer any need to get experience of leading a race.

"It's different this year in the sense that I don't have the same pressure that I had last year," he told at the pre-race press conference "I'm not here feeling that I have to win this as build up to the Tour. There's less pressure because I'm not here to gain experience as a leader. I did already last year. It was critical last year but this year I feel more relaxed but I'm still motivated.

"I've done some really good training and the race will tell how good that has been. I feel like I'm in good condition. I'm looking forward to racing again now. I've done a lot of training and it's good to put it to use now."

Froome has stayed away from all the hype that surround as Tour champion by training with teammate Kanstantsin Siutsou in South Africa. He feels ready for the challenge that includes going up against riders like Vincenzo Nibali, Joaquim Rodriguez, the Schleck brothers, Robert Gesink Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Thibaut Pinot, Domenico Pozzovivo and Roman Kreuziger. Most of those riders already have some racing in their legs and this makes Froome a bit uncertain about what to expect.

"I don't quite know where I am but I'd love to see where I'm at. I'd love a victory but I'm not sure where I am compared to the other guys. We'll see," he said.

"There are always good riders coming here and it's good to compare to where you are after winter. For the Tour de France I don't think it's here or there at this point. There's a lot of time between now and the Tour and a lot can happen. Riders can gain form, lose form, get injured, so it's too early to say anything about the Tour. But whoever does win here is going to come out with a mental advantage over the other guys for sure."

Last year Froome dominated the early-season stage races. He went from his victory in Oman to the Tirreno-Adriatico where he had his own defeat, being relegated into second by Nibali. He went on to win the Criterium International, the Tour de Romandie and the Criterium du Dauphiné before successfully conquering the Tour.

This year he will have an almost identical race schedule. With the Tour no longer starting on Corsica, he will skip the Criterium International in favour of the Volta a Catalunya. He had originally planned to do Milan-Sanremo on the revamped course but with the rumours that the Pompeiana climb will not feature on the course after all, there is little chance that he will do a sprint-friendly edition of the Italian classic.

"I don't think I'm going to be doing Milan-San Remo," he said. "I think the new climb has been taken out, so it's not quite 100% a climbers race as it would have been. I plan doing the Volta a Catalunya, which starts the day after San Remo and so unless it's 100% a climber's race, I'll rule it out of my programme.

"I'll be riding Tirreno-Adriatico as far as I can see, then after Catalunya, I'll ride Romandie and the Dauphine. Like always, I'll try to do at least two blocks of two weeks up in Teide."

Alejandro Valverde will do a few cobbled classics to prepare for the Tour de France stage that includes pavé sectors and Vincenzo Nibali has also played with the idea. However, Froome prefers to avoid the risk of the stressful racing in Northern Europe.

"From what I can understand, the cobbles are very different in a one-day race than in a Grand Tour," he said I'd personally prefer not to take the risk in a race on the cobbles. I'd like to go and train on cobbles a lot to prep for that cobbled-stage in the Tour.

"I've done Paris-Roubaix and so I know what to expect. I pulled out at the second feed, after giving a wheel to my then teammate Baden Cooke. It was fine as a neo-pro. I was quite happy to make it to 200km."

You can read our preview of the Tour of Oman here.