Froome, Thomas, Swift named in Team Sky's RideLondon line-up

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Tour de France winner Chris Froome, and his lieutenants Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard, will head Team Sky’s squad for the one-day RideLondon on Sunday. Twice podium finisher Ben Swift will also line-up in the six-man team for his first race since the Tour de Romandie in April.

Froome confirmed that he would compete at the RideLondon Classic during his Tour de France race-winner’s press conference in Morzine following the penultimate stage on Saturday. It will be Froome’s first race on British roads since the Olympics in 2012, where he took bronze in the time trial. The one-day race is far from a favourable parcours for the Tour winner, but will provide a midway point between the Grand Tour and the Olympic road race in Rio the following Sunday. Thomas and Stannard will join Froome on the flight to Brazil following the race.

Team Sky’s hopes for victory will lie in Swift and Danny van Poppel. Swift has been close to victory in the past two editions of RideLondon, finishing third behind Jempy Drucker and Mike Teunissen last season and second behind Adam Blythe in 2014. Swift has had a difficult season missing several months due to a lingering knee injury.

Completing the line-up will be the German Christian Knees, who is riding the race for the first time since its inaugural edition in 2013.

Team Sky for the RideLondon Classic: Chris Froome, Christian Knees, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift, Geraint Thomas and Danny van Poppel.

Cyclingnews will have full coverage of the RideLondon race on Sunday and the women's RideLondon Classique circuit race on Saturday evening.