Suited and booted for the 2018 Giro d'Italia start next Friday, Froome issued an obdurate statement that also generally acknowledged the unresolved anti-doping case hanging over him.
“I’ve had a different start to the season," Froome said in a team statement. "As I’ve obviously been aiming to try and reach my peak quite a bit earlier than usual. But the target of going for a third consecutive Grand Tour has given me new motivation."
“Of course there is an element of risk involved in targeting the Giro before the Tour, but I think I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t give this race a go.
“I also recognise the wider issues and as I have said before I am doing everything I can, together with the team, to help resolve them as quickly as possible."
"In the meantime I am focused on racing. I would love to win the maglia rosa, but I am under no illusions whatsoever about how hard the race will be.”
A sample taken during the 2017 Vuelta showed Froome had twice the allowable limit of salbutamol but has continuously denied any wrongdoing since the result was made public late last year. The Brit is free to race as he is not suspended.
The 2017 Tour de France and Vuelta champion also spoke to Cyclingnews about the controversy.
"I'm planning for the best-case scenario, to be fully exonerated, coming from the basis that I know I've done nothing wrong," he told Cyclingnews in a story published overnight. "That's what I'm planning for."
"I can't remember the last time a rider won three Grand Tours consecutively. I don't think a rider in my generation has ever done that, so it'd be pretty special for me," he also said in the Cyclingnews piece.
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