Chris Froome relishing Tour de France’s return to Mont Ventoux

Chris Froome will renew his acquaintance with the formidable Mont Ventoux at next year’s Tour de France, but feels he will have to show his all-round qualities to retain the yellow jersey.

Froome turned in an astonishing display on the gruelling 22.7 kilometre ascent on his way to victory in the 2013 race, but it has not featured in the last two editions.

Its expected return was confirmed at yesterday’s route announcement in Paris but, while there was plenty to enthuse fans of summit finishes, there were also two testing individual time-trials of 34km and 17km and the usual smattering of sprints.