Chris Froome says 2015 Tour de France will be "the race that never was last year"

The 2015 Tour de France will be "the race that never was last year", according to 2013 winner Chris Froome.

After its triumphant Yorkshire Grand Depart last year's Tour was supposed to be a showdown between Froome and the winner in 2007 and 2009, Alberto Contador.

But Froome's crash in stage 5 of the Tour and Contador's in stage 10 ripped up the script and Vincenzo Nibali emerged as the winner.

All three are expected to start this year's race alongside 2014 Giro d’Italia winner Nairo Quintana and possibly Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde of Spain.

Froome told Sky Sports News HQ: “Next year’s Tour is going to be a battle – that’s the perfect way to describe it. It’s going to be a big showdown. It’s shaping up to be the race that never was last year."

With 2015's parcours heavily stacked with mountaintop finishes, climbing specialists are expected to dominate.

Froome said: “If last year’s Vuelta is anything to go by, Contador is going to be the guy who I am obviously measuring myself against, but having said that, I don’t think I can rule out any of the other big general classification contenders, guys like Quintana, Vincenzo Nibali, Rodriguez, Valverde – those kind of guys.

“You can never rule anyone out until that point when they lose time on the general classification. Then you can say, ‘OK, that guy is not going to be a problem this year’. You have got to treat everyone with respect and understanding that they could be the one to challenge for the title.”

Froome will be supported in the mountain by "an amazing line-up" of riders. Team Sky has signed Nicolas Roche, Leopold Konig and Wout Poels to boost its climbing power.

Froome said: “I really do think this year, if any year, we have got an amazing line-up and amazing pool of riders to be able to select that Tour de France team. I would even go as far as to say that it is the strongest all-round that we have had in the last few years.”

He told the Press Association that the pressure of being defending champion had been a strain in 2014.

"Going in as defending champion definitely adds a burden," Froome said.

"There's a pressure on you: you won last year so are you going to do it again? I don't feel that this year.

"Going back to win a second Tour de France is even harder than going out to win the first one.

"After the first one you have the recognition and a lot of backing which plays in your favour, but there are a lot of other things that play against you.

"The pressure on your shoulders of being a Tour de France winner - you're suddenly put in the position of being in the limelight.

"People assume that because you win the Tour de France, you suddenly know how to do perfect interviews and all the rest of it. It doesn't work like that.

"We're just normal human beings. We just ride bicycles. There's definitely a period of adaptation there and learning how to deal with all that pressure."