As the defending champion, Chris Froome attended the presentation of the course for the 2017 Tour de France. The Brit was disappointed to see that there will only be 36km of individual time trialling but vowed to return to defend his title.

"It’s definitely going to be a climbers’ race from what I can tell. It’s very light on time trial kilometres but that’s all part of the race and that’s something I’m going to have to focus my training on, being the best I can be on the climbs," he said.

"Certainly, from my first reaction there were quite a few stages going up over 2,000 metres. The Izoard goes up to 2,300 metres; that’s going to be an absolute beast of a stage. Initial feelings are that it’s going to be a race that is won or lost in the mountains. Of course, it’s the Tour and anything can happen so we have to be ready for all eventualities."

Unlike in 2015 when the race also had very little time trialling, Froome did not play with the thought of skipping the race.