Froome to race again in 2019 at Criterium de Saitama

Froome, who won the 2013 Saitama Criterium, had not been expected to be back in any sort of event until 2020 but began training again in late August.

Chris Froome will return to action in 2019.

Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome will take part in one of the events surrounding the Saitama Criterium in Japan in October, which would be his first race since a horror crash in June.

Froome, who won the 2013 Saitama Criterium, had not been expected to be back in any sort of event until 2020 but began training again in late August.

When contacted on Friday, race organisers ASO confirmed Froome would take part at Saitama, at the very least, in a team time-trial run over a short circuit.

Froome sustained dreadful injuries when he hit a brick wall at high speed, fracturing ribs, a femur, and an elbow after taking his hands off the handlebars to blow his nose three months ago.

He would be less likely to expose himself to a fall in Japan in the team time-trial, where the teams set off individually, rather than be exposed to the frantic racing a peloton can often present.

The 34-year-old sustained what were believed to be potentially life changing injuries during a practice ride of the time trial course at the Criterium du Dauphine earlier in the season, a race he was using to prepare for this year's Tour de France won by Ineos team-mate Egan Bernal.