Thursday 14 January 2016 09:44, UK
Chris Froome has confirmed he will attempt to win the Tour de France, Olympic road race and Olympic time trial in 2016, but the Team Sky rider has played down claims he is the favourite for two of them.
Froome revealed in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News HQ in October that he may bid to become the first man to win all three in a single season and has now settled on targeting the treble after a reconnaissance of Rio's Olympic courses in November.
Just 17 days separate the last stage of the Tour on July 24, the Olympic road race on August 6 and Olympic time trial on August 10, but Froome believes the routes suit him well enough to make the historic feat possible.
Speaking at Team Sky's winter training camp in Mallorca shortly after announcing he had extended his contract until the end of 2018, Froome said: "When I rode Rio and looked at the time trial course, I thought, 'This is fantastic; I'd love the chance to get stuck into this time trial'. Then I went and rode the road course the next day and just felt, 'If there's a one-day course I could win, it would look something like this'.
"It is definitely a climbers' course and it's very different to the 2012 Olympic course. It's going to be gruelling.
"There are cobbles in there, steep climbs, long climbs, and you have got to remember the teams are a maximum of five riders per nation. It could be a very different race to anything else we are used to."
After riding a Tour containing four summit finishes and two time trials, Froome must negotiate a 256.4km Olympic road race featuring more than 4,500m of climbing and then a hilly 59.6km Olympic time trial if he is to achieve the treble.
The legendary former rider Eddy Merckx believes Froome will be untouchable at the Tour, while Tony Martin, the three-time world time-trial champion, has labelled the 30-year-old as the man to beat in the Olympic time trial.
However, Froome said: "It is a hilly course and I imagine that is why Tony has singled me out. But there is a long, flat section also, about 10-12km, so I am sure he will be pulling his time back there.
"But there is maybe [Tom] Dumoulin who also could go really well, and people are maybe forgetting my team-mate [Vasil] Kiryienka, the current TT world champion. I think he could go really well on that course, too.
"It's another amazing compliment from Eddy there, but I certainly don't feel that I don't have any opponents. I feel as if I am going to have the strongest competition that I've had at the Tour."
