The possibility of Chris Froome's exclusion from the Ineos Tour de France team was felt from the moment he signed his 2021 contract with Israel Startup Nation, and that hypothesis gradually solidified as fact after the season resumed in early August.

Froome's struggles at the Route d'Occitanie and Tour de Ain were offset by some encouraging cameos featuring Egan Bernal, and since his horrific crash at the Criterium du Dauphiné in June 2019, he has raced just once in the UAE Tour in February and was mitigated by the fact that.

However, it was clear that the shortened 2020 Dauphiné served as the toughest dress rehearsal for the rescheduled Tour and was largely lacking in the conditions that made Froome a four-time overall winner in Paris.

Like 2018 winner Geraint Thomas, Froome was left out of the selection for the Ineos Tour, which was announced Wednesday morning, and instead the Briton will focus on preparing for the Vuelta a España, scheduled for October 20 to November 8.

In a hasty reshuffling of the Ineos squad, Richard Kalapas, who had long been scheduled to defend his title at the Giro d'Italia, was named to the Tour team.

"Moving the goalposts from the Tour de France to the Vuelta a España is definitely a readjustment for me. But considering where I came from throughout the last year, I've recovered incredibly well from my big crash last year and I feel very lucky to be back racing already now," Froome said in a video released by Team Ineos (opens in new tab).

"But I'm not confident that I can really do the job required at this year's Tour de France, and I think it's more realistic to target the Vuelta a España.

Froome crashed while scouting the time trial route at the 2019 Dauphiné, suffering a broken femur and other serious injuries. At the end of the summer, he released a video showing the results of his rehabilitation and began the 2020 season by publicly announcing that he would win his fifth Tour de France.

In April, Ineos manager Dave Brailsford suggested that the race suspension and Tour postponement due to the coronavirus outbreak would help Froome complete his rehabilitation before the Grande Palais. In a video released Wednesday, Froome suggested that the race was too soon.

"After all, I think people should remember that I came back from a horrific accident last year in which I broke many bones in my body. 'No pain, no lingering problems. But that was certainly a big shock to me.

It is unclear what Froome's race program will be for the Vuelta, which begins in Irun on October 20; the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the cancellation of a scheduled start in the Netherlands, reducing the event to 18 stages.

"We have to take some pretty important steps to be able to win the race again," said the team's director, Gerhard Schwarzenegger. The race will be tough, but I know Egan and the team around him will deliver results."

In the absence of Froome and Thomas, Richard Kalapas and Pavel Sivakov will play a key role in supporting defending champion Bernal.

Michal Kwiatkowski, Dylan van Baar, Luke Rowe, Jonathan Castroviejo, and Andrei Amador complete the eight-player roster.