While Chris Froome's current focus is undoubtedly on the Vuelta a España, the domestic deluxe of teammate and race leader Richard Carapace, the four-time Tour de France winner would welcome a more balanced 2021 He welcomes a more balanced Tour route in 2021.

The race route for next year's Tour de France was unveiled in Paris on Sunday evening, with race organizer ASO announcing a course with three summit finishes, two climbs of Mont Ventoux in one stage, and two 58km individual time trials.

"It's a rest day at the rainy Vuelta a España," Froome told Cycling News after a session on the indoor trainer.

"Every year we look at the parcours to see if we have a good balance between the climbs and the time trials, and in previous years it's leaned heavily towards pure climbers, and the time trials have been biased towards climbers.

"The 2021 route has three summit finishes, climbing Mont Ventoux twice, and there is a time trial of about 58 km. I think it will be much more balanced than the last few years. The severity of some of the climbs suggests that there will still be a big emphasis on the mountains, and the one that stands out from the little I've seen of the route is the Col de Portet, which has a nearly 10% climb for about 15km. That will definitely sort out the peloton. But I've faced more unfavorable routes in the past and I'm excited about what I've seen."

Froom is still searching for his best form after a tough year and a half. He suffered a career-threatening crash at last year's Criterium du Dauphiné and spent months recuperating from serious injuries, including hip, elbow, femur, sternum, and vertebrae fractures. He returned to racing this spring, but his comeback was interrupted by the closure of COVID-19, and when racing resumed in August, the British rider was still not in his best form.

He was left out of the Ineos Grenadiers Tour de France team, but used the Vuelta a España to increase his racing days and increase his competitive distance, which turbo training and gym work never provided. Although he is off the pace in the GC contention of the Vuelta, the 35-year-old is using the Spanish race to save up the miles he needs before returning to stage race contention next season.

"My preparations for the Tour de France are really starting now," he said.

As far as next year's Tour de France is concerned, the former winner will be competing with a new kit and a new team after moving to Israel's Startup Nation for the next few years of his career. Patrick Bevin, Michael Woods, and Daryl Impey are already part of the team to support Frum and Dan Martin.

"It will be a completely different structure, and no disrespect to the current team at Israel Startup Nation, but it feels like we have a blank piece of paper to build a Grand Tour program from scratch," said Froome. Dan Martin had a great ride in the Vuelta."

The final week of this year's Vuelta a España has been a closely balanced race with Calapaz holding a slim 10-second lead over Primoš Roglic (Jumbo Visma) and the top four riders just 35 seconds apart. At the summit of Mount Angril on stage 12, the Ineos team was down to just two riders, Calapaz and Froome.

Calapaz pulled away from Roglic on the final climb to lead the race before Tuesday's crucial individual time trial. If Calapaz is to have a shot at the red jersey in the final week, he will need Froome, and the two-time winner is relishing the chance to help the Ecuadorian-born Froome.

"I'm really enjoying this Vuelta a España. It's a completely different race than any Grand Tour I've ever done in terms of my own expectations and GC. You go into the stage, you do your job, and when you're done, you sit down.

"As the race progresses, I'm getting stronger and I feel like I've contributed more in the last few days than I did earlier in the race. My legs are coming back slowly, step by step, which is a good sign. I still have a long way to go to get back to the level I was at before, but I'm making progress step by step and I'm really happy with the progress I've made so far.

"The one thing I've felt has been missing all season is top-end racing. Of course, last year I missed about six months due to injury and even more due to the COVID thing. So I knew that if I could run the majority of this race on my own legs, I would feel more like myself this time around. That's exactly what I found, and that's a real positive for me."

For Froome, this will be his last race with Ineos Grenadiers, which he joined in 2010. With one week left in the Grand Tour, there is little room for sentimentality or nostalgia--that comes later in the off-season--but Froome is ready to step up on the remaining stages and continue to support Carapas.

"In terms of racing, obviously it was great with the team. Richie Karapas is wearing the red jersey and even though we are down two riders, the race is fun and I wanted to be aggressive. Yesterday, if I was in Karapas' shoes, if I only had one teammate, I knew the job I would ask him to do would be to get me over the last climb and through the tricky and dangerous descent," said Froome.

"On the final climb up Angliru, it's like every rider is riding for himself. In the time trial, I will most likely save my legs for the next few days to help Ritchie. If Ritchie can't hold the lead in the time trial, I will support him to make the race as hard as possible. It's very important for him to get some Grand Tours experience to prepare him for next season."