Chris Froome plans on racing RideLondon-Surrey next Sunday

Chris Froome, who barring mishap will be crowned Tour de France champion for the third time in four years in Paris this afternoon, plans to take part in next Sunday’s RideLondon-Surrey Classic, the first time he’ll have taken part in the race.

The Team Sky rider said yesterday he is likely to take to the start of the fourth edition of the Olympic legacy event.

Froome, who is targeting Olympic gold in the road race and time trial at Rio next month, last raced in the UK when the Tour de France began in Yorkshire in 2014, said:  "I'm looking for recovery after this race," reports Eurosport.

"I think I'll ride RideLondon next Sunday as a one-day race before we fly to Rio, and then we'll be there for a week before [the Olympic road race], to look at the roads and start training again.

"The last few years, I haven't done much racing in the UK,” Froome continued. “Time wise it didn't work out. The Tour of Britain conflicted with the Vuelta, national championships conflicted with my tapering and training for the Tour.

"This seems like the perfect opportunity to go over to London. It will be a massive honour to engage with the British fans, which I haven't been able to do," he added.

In May, a couple of hundred fans were able to get up close and personal with Froome, however, when he tweeted that he was going for a ride in Hampshire, throwing open an invitation for others to join him and expressing surprise afterwards at the numbers who turned up.

> Hundreds turn up for impromptu ride with Chris Froome