Chris Froome returns to racing! Ahead of Tour de France, Briton headlines Mercan'Tour Classic

Israel - Premier Tech have confirmed their lineup for the Mercan'Tour Classic this upcoming Wednesday and it includes Chris Froome, who will be headlining the race. This is the Briton's return to competition in a season that has not gone his way.

The team features Jesse Maris and Pau Marti Soriano from the development project. The team comes with several options for a result in a race that includes climbers such as Lenny Martínez and David Gaudu of Groupama-FDJ and Guillaume Martin of Cofidis. Stephen Williams, winner of Flèche Wallone, is one of them but he should not be well suited to the high mountains where the race will be decided.

Climbers Mason Hollyman, Matthew Riccitello and Matthew Riccitello make up the bulk of the climber's block. Bennett, most likely, will lead the team's ambitions for a result after having shown good form at the Giro d'Abruzzo in April, finishing third in the overall classification only behind Alexey Lutsenko and Pavel Sivakov.

But the team's main figure will be Froome, who also raced here for the past two seasons finishing 11th and 14th respectively. Last year he was the team's highest finisher, but that was not enough to then earn him a presence at the Tour de France. Hence, this will be an important challenge for his current form after an altitude training camp, but will in no way decide what is to happen within a month.

Froome suffered a scaphoid fracture at Tirreno-Adriatico back in March and was forced to be in a cast for four weeks. Ultimately, this ended his spring, before he could even reach the form he was training towards. The veteran finished the Tour du Rwanda earlier in the season but has effectively not raced in two and a half months.

Israel - Premier Tech for Mercan'Tour Classic:

George Bennett
Chris Froome
Mason Hollyman
Jesse Maris
Pau Marti Soriano
Matthew Riccitello
Stephen Williams