Tour de France: Chris Froome may opt to race Giro and Vuelta instead

Chris Froome won the 2013 Tour de France but crashed out of this year's race

Britain's Chris Froome said he may not compete in the 2015 Tour de France, as the route was unveiled on Wednesday.

Team Sky's 2013 winner, who crashed out this year, may instead ride in the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana.

"The team and I will give it some careful consideration before we make any commitments to which of the grand tours I will compete in," he said.

Current champion Vincenzo Nibali and Spain's Alberto Contador will start as favourites over a tough course.

Froome revealed on his website: "I see myself as quite a balanced GC rider and the Giro, with its inclusion of a long TT of 60km and tough uphill finishes, will make it a well-balanced race which suits me well.

"If I did the Giro I may also be able to get myself back to top shape for the Vuelta and go there with a realistic chance of aiming for the win.

"In the past I've only targeted one grand tour each season but it could be a good opportunity for me to focus seriously on two."

Froome pulled out of this year's Tour after crashing twice on stage five.

The Briton had resumed riding after his first fall in wet conditions, but withdrew after his second crash with about 66km of the stage to go. The stage had yet to reach the first of several cobbled sections.

High winds, cobbles and a penultimate stage on l'Alpe d'Huez will feature in 102nd edition of the Tour raced over three weeks from 4 to 26 July, and starting in the Netherlands city of Utrecht.

There are five mountain-top finishes but only 14km of individual time trial.

The 2015 Tour de France route which will be raced over three weeks from 4 to 26 July

Froome, 29, added: "There's no two ways about it, next year's Tour is going to be about the mountains.

"There's very little emphasis on time trialling which means the race will be decided up in the high mountains. It is going to be an aggressive and massively demanding race."

The race hits cobbles on stage four in France - at 221km the longest stage - before heading out through Normandy to Brittany.

From there it switches to the Pyrenees with tough finishes at La Pierre St Martin and on the Plateau de Beille.

The final week in the Alps has four consecutive gruelling mountain stages before switching to Paris for the procession along the Champs-Elysees.

Italy's Nibali, last year's Vuelta winner Contador, Colombia's Nairo Quintana and France's Thibaut Pinot are the climbers who should relish this course.