Chris Froome plans to hunt stages at upcoming Tour de France: "Tour remains the ultimate goal"

Chris Froome is once again confident he'll make the final lineup for Israel - Premier Tech. The four-time Tour de France champion didn't have the most ideal run-up to the race with as some tendon issues sidelined the Briton for some time in April.

"I’ve been improving little by little," he said. "The last six-seven weeks have been going well in training, I’ve worked well and without any problems. Things seem to be going in the right direction."

Froome showed up at La Route d'Occitanie last week, where he worked for his teammate and later winner Michael Woods. "Stage 1 was stressful," he told DirectVelo. "We needed all our strength to help our leaders and notably Corbin, whom we hoped to see win the stage. We had five guys up there in a front group of 25, it was a really nice collective performance."

"Tour remains the ultimate goal,¨" Froome continued. "It’s the race in which I’ve had my nicest feelings, where all the best riders in the world compete in their best form. Obviously I’m not going to go to the Tour to fight for the overall, but if I can try to go for a stage win, that would be great."