Chris Froome (Sky) will return to competitive today when the USA Pro Challenge kicks off in Colorado. The Tour de France winner will, however, only use the race as training as he gradually builds up for the world championships.

Chris Froome has had a habit of going for the win whenever he lines up at a bike race. When he starts the USA Pro Challenge later today, he will buck that trend, simply using the race as mere preparation for later objectives.

The Tour de France lines up as part of a very strong Sky roster that also includes Richie Porte but none of those two Tour de France stars expect to be in a shape that allows them to compete with the best. Instead, they will work for their teammates.

“Richie and myself have had a little bit of a break since the Tour,” Froome said on the pre-race press conference. “So we’re probably not going as well as we were. But either way, we’re here to do what we can and help out our teammates.”

Those teammates are likely to be neo-pro Joe Dombrowski who finished 10th overall in the event last while part of the Bontrager development team, and Kanstantsin Siutsou who was a key support rider during Froome's successful Tour.

“Joe Dombrowski did well last year, and he’s going to give it another shot this year,” Froome told Velonews. “And we have a dark horse for the race, maybe, in Kanstantin Sivtsov. He’s going pretty well after the Tour. For myself and Richie, we’ve had a bit of time off, so it’s more about getting back into it, and using this race to lift up our form towards the world championships.”

The main difficulty in Colorado is the high altitude and despite growing up in Nairobi which sits at about 2000m, he described the conditions in the American state as a "shock to the system".

“The second day was better,” he told Velonews. “Today [Saturday] was the third day, and I’m starting to feel a little more acclimatized. So hopefully it’s not too much of a shock to the system on the race day. We rode up Independence Pass, which was the highest I think I’ve ever been on the bike. And that was quite something.”

Porte was on a similar note regarding his current condition.

“The last month after the Tour, I did the criteriums, but I haven’t done a hell of a lot of training,” he told Velonews. “Now that I’m here, it’s kind of a little bit of a shame, because it’s a cool race. It’s a cool area. I think maybe for next year I’d like to stay on it, and be in good shape for it.”

The USA Pro Challenge kicks off with a circuit race around Aspen later today.