Chris Froome announced that he is "here and ready" to win the Tour de France for a record fifth time, while training under a COVID-19 coronavirus blockade in Monaco. Earlier this month, Froome told Cycling News exclusively that the Tour de France is his "number one target."

After being badly injured in a crash at last year's Criterium du Dauphiné, Froome faced a race against time to make it to the Tour de France in June. However, with the race postponed from August 29 to September 20 and his recovery going better than expected, Froome is confident he can win the race for a fifth time.

The Team Ineos rider focused on rehabilitation and recovering strength in his left leg, and also did some long rides on his home trainer. With his Grand Tour rivals out of the race until July and forced to train in similar conditions, Froome is closing the gap and increasing his chances of a fifth Tour de France win.

"After last year's crash, a fifth Tour may seem impossible, but I'm here and I'm ready," Froome announced in a video message on social media.

"I don't like to think in terms of limits. Our life as professional cyclists is always about setting different goals and setting different goals. Unless we can achieve those goals, we don't have a realistic chance of winning races," he said, accompanying his message with photos and X-rays of his crashes and injuries, as well as his Tour de France victories and racing successes.

"I think every time we have faced adversity, it has always made us even more determined to prove them wrong.

Froom crashed at last year's Criterium du Dauphiné during a scouting run for the stage 4 time trial and suffered various fractures, including a femur, neck, and sternum. After surgery, he suffered an infection in November that delayed his recovery, but he returned to racing in the UAE Tour just before the COVID-19 epidemic forced him to suspend racing and training in several European countries.

After a training camp in South Africa, he returned to Europe in late March and has been training in his personal "pain cave" ever since.

"My recovery is going really well. I would say I'm recovering pretty well. I'm still doing exercises off the bike to strengthen my injured right side, but I'm back to my normal training load again, and it's going really well," Froome said two weeks ago before participating in the Team Ineos Zwift race.

Froome will likely share the Team Ineos leadership with 2019 winner Egan Bernal and 2018 winner Geraint Thomas, but he is always fiercely competitive. when the new dates of August 29 to September 20 were announced. made it clear that the Tour de France is his primary goal for 2020.

"Looking at the potential dates set by the UCI, the Tour de France is my number one goal," Froome told Cycling News.

"If it doesn't conflict with the Tour de France, I would like to compete in the UCI World Championships.

"Depending on the schedule of the other Grand Tours, I would also like to be in either the Vuelta a España or the Giro d'Italia. I'll be discussing my program with Ineos head coach Tim Kerrison and the performance team over the next few weeks."

"This is all assuming things are headed in the right direction with regard to the COVID-19 situation.

Froom will turn 35 on May 20, so a fifth Tour de France win would make him the second oldest winner in history, after Firmin Lambo, who won in 1922 at age 36.

"He's not complaining [about the delay].

"One thing I can say about Chris is that he is awesome, he can train. Training in the gym in the morning, training on the turbo, and the time spent on it .......

"I think I can train harder than most and make up for the time lost due to injury.