Chris Froome speaks to the press ahead of the Tour de France - Gallery

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Chris Froome and Team Sky assembled in front of journalists and photographers in what was a jam-packed official team press conference ahead of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France on Wednesday.

Held just outside the Vendée town of Saint-Mars-la-Réorthe, Froome and team manager Dave Brailsford spoke to members of the media and addressed questions about Froome's recently-closed salbutamol case as well as the upcoming race set to begin on Saturday in Noirmoutier-en-L'Île.

On Monday, the UCI, with advice from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), closed a ninth-month case against Froome, after the Briton had produced an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) for salbutamol at the Vuelta a España last year. Froome is now clear to attempt to win a fifth Tour de France title, and a fourth consecutive Grand Tour after he won last year's Tour and Vuelta, and the Giro d'Italia in May.

Tour de France organisers ASO tried to block Froome from racing, but dropped the motion after the UCI cleared him of any wrongdoing. In a press release on Tuesday, Sky revealed the team that would support Froome at this year's Tour de France to include Egan Bernal, Jonathan Castroviejo, Michal Kwiatkowski, Gianni Moscon, Luke Rowe, Wout Poels and Geraint Thomas.

Outside of the press conference, the team also took an opportunity to go for a training ride on their time trial bikes while wearing the new black and white Sky Ocean Rescue kits that will be worn during the Tour de France.

Look through the gallery above to view images from Team Sky's official pre-Tour de France press conference and training ride.

Check back at Cyclingnews for more from the Team Sky press conference.