Froome will lead a strong Team Sky squad that includes Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift, Christian Knees and Dutch sprinter Danny van Poppel. It will be the first time Froome has raced in Britain since the 2014 Tour de France started in Yorkshire. He has never ridden the RideLondon Classic before but did ride the 2012 Olympic Games road race on similar roads.
This year's line-up for the British one-day race includes seven UCI WorldTour teams including Team Sky, Etixx-QuickStep, Lotto-Soudal, Cannondale-Drapac and Dimension Data. Last year Jean-Pierre Drucker of BMC was part of a breakaway that surprised the sprinters but the largely flat course and finish on the Mall in central London should see the sprinters on Sunday. Also on the start list are sprinter Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) who won the final stage of the 2016 Tour de France on the Champs Elysees, Michael Matthews (Orica-Bike Exchange) and Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick-Step).
With Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) also set to ride, it means four of the five riders who will represent Great Britain in the road events in Rio will be in action before flying to Brazil for a week of acclimatization and final training on the hilly course. Only Adam Yates (Orica-Bike Exchange) will miss the race as he recovers from finishing fourth overall at the Tour de France and taking the best young rider’s white jersey.
Froome has already confirmed he will target both the road race and time trial. He was part of the Great Britain team for London 2012, winning a bronze medal in the time trial, where Bradley Wiggins won the gold medal.
"The last few years I haven't done much racing in the UK. I've really wanted to, but races like the Tour of Britain have coincided with the Vuelta, and the national championships being just before the Tour de France, it's a tricky time to include with all that travel time and tapering to get ready for the Tour," Froome said on Saturday when he first revealed he will ride in London.
"It will be a massive honour to go and engage with the British fans, and then to go from there straight out to Rio."
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“We'll fly as a team out to Rio and we'll be there almost a week before the race just to have a look at the roads a little more and start training a little more."
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