Organizers of the 2020 Giro di Sicilia have announced that they are ready to welcome Chris Froome to the four-day race in April. Froome has been recovering and returning to racing after suffering multiple fractures in last year's Criterium du Dauphiné.

After a slow recovery in November, Froome will return to racing at the UAE Tour in late February. He recently completed a high-altitude training camp in Tenerife and is focused on returning to top form for the Tour de France.

Like the Giro di Sicilia, the UAE Tour will be organized by RCS Sport. The organization lured Froome to the 2018 Giro d'Italia, where he won the Colle delle Finestre dirt road on a solo attack.

RCS Sport offered Froome and Team Ineos a place in the Sicilian stage race when the route was announced in Milan on Monday.

"EF, Israel Startup Nation, and UAE Emirates Airlines are all confirmed. As for the athletes, we will be joined by last year's winner McNulty, Italian national champion Formolo, Conti and Visconti from Vini Zabou, Laurent and Visho from the B&B Hotels team, and Nairo Quintana from Arkea Samsic," Veni revealed. [The relationship with the team is good. It probably depends on what program he [Froome] chooses after the Emirates. If there is an opportunity [for Froome to race the Giro di Sicilia], we will be happy," race director Mauro Veni told La Gazzetta dello Sport on Tuesday.

Team Ineos is scheduled to race in Belgium and Spain in early April, but according to Cycling News, the team has no current plans to run the Giro di Sicilia. However, Team Ineos occasionally holds triple races, and Froome has yet to reveal his race program after the UAE Tour.

RCS Sport has already confirmed three WorldTour teams for the 2020 Giro di Sicilia, including 2019 winner Brendon McNulty.

The Giro di Sicilia will start in Siracusa on the east coast on April 1, with three undulating stages in different parts of the island and a final mountain stage on the slopes of Mount Etna, ending in Mascari, near Catania, on April 4.

The Giro d'Italia will also visit Sicily in May, with three stages on the island and a mountain finish on the slopes of Mount Etna; the 2021 Giro d'Italia will start in Sicily.

The final stage of the Giro d'Italia will be via Piano Provenzana, the same route used by the Giro d'Italia, to the northern coast, 2 km from the finish. The climb from Ringagrossa is 16 km long with an average gradient of 7%.

The Giro di Sicilia used to be an early season training race, offering European teams a chance to race in the warmer weather of February; the last winner was Giuseppe Saronni in 1977; the race was replicated in 2019 and won by McNulty

The race was won by the team of the same name.

Sicily is keen to promote itself as a tourist destination and once again welcomes professional cycling.

"We are restoring Il Giro di Sicilia to its former glory and we want to continue on this path." Veni said.