When Chris Froome lined up last week at Fleche-Wallonne, he was no doubt hoping for a smooth return to racing following a team training camp in Tenerife, but any chance for that was wiped away when he crashed just 10km from the finish and had to limp across the line, a gaping hole in his shorts revealing the road rash on his hip.
Grateful that he avoided any of the serious injuries that other riders suffered, however, Froome said his own superficial wounds shouldn't hinder him this week as he and Team Sky try to defend his 2013 and 2014 Tour of Romandie titles with a record-setting third consecutive win.
"I'm trying to approach it as a completely new, fresh challenge – especially with the route this year being different," the 2013 Tour de France champion said in an interview published on the team's website.
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"There are a few changes, like the team time trial on the first stage," he said. "It is a completely different race. I'm just approaching it as an event that I really want to go well in. It's a race that is always a good building block towards the Tour de France, and it's one of the key races before we get there. It would actually be incredible if I could win Romandie for a third time in a row, but for the moment, I'm just looking at it as another race, and I'll take it one day at a time to get through the week."
Froome's early season build up has suffered through a number of setbacks so far this year. He started his season with an overall win at the Vuelta a Andalucia, but only after illness forced him to withdraw from a planned start at Tirenno-Adriatico. He had two consecutive bad days at the Volta a Catalunya – a race won by teammate Richie Porte – and finished 71st there. After Catalunya, Froome took a break from racing for a team training camp.
"We had a really good training block together up there," he said. "It felt like everyone who went through the camp came out feeling better than when we went in. It was a good block up there and we're going to be going back up soon. I'm actually looking forward to that.
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