SHOWS: DUBAI, UAE (FEBRUARY 22, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. CHRIS FROOME AND OTHER CYCLISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TEAM INEOS CYCLIST CHRIS FROOME, SAYING: "First of all obviously I'm extremely, extremely happy to be here, I mean this was the race I was hoping to do last year but didn't make it. But obviously after the crash last June, I've been away from racing now for eight months, and this is, tomorrow feels like the first day back at school again, it's really exciting to be here and I hope that I'm at the right level to at least get through the race. I'm certainly not going to be winning this week but looking forward to, really looking forward to racing again." 3. WIDE VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE 4. LOGO OF UAE TOUR 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CYCLISTS CHRIS FROOME, SAYING: "I'm really, really motivated to start racing tomorrow, I mean it's been a long time away from racing with all the injuries I had last year. So I'm really happy to be starting tomorrow, and especially to be starting here in the UAE Tour in Dubai because, as you pointed out, it's a race where we've got sunshine, good weather, it's a great way to start racing again." 6. WHITE FLASH 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CYCLIST CHRIS FROOME, SAYING: "I mean I broke a lot of bones, I broke my leg in two places, I broke my arm, I broke my sternum, collapsed lung, ribs, vertebrae, I broke a lot of bones so naturally I was really injured and spent months in rehab trying to just walk again, so it feels like a really big victory just to be here really and I'm really excited about the week ahead." 8. WHITE FLASH 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) CYCLIST CHRIS FROOME, SAYING: "This is the first race, I've got no idea really of where I'm going to be at in terms of physical condition, so just to be part of the race and to help my team as much as possible to get the best result." STORY: Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome said on Saturday (February 22) in Dubai that he was really motivated to be racing again after recovering from serious injuries sustained in a high-speed crash last year. The 34-year-old Briton lines up at the start of the UAE Tour on Sunday (February 23) with Team Ineos in his first race since slamming into a wall during a training ride for last year's Criterium du Dauphine. Froome was in a critical condition in hospital after the crash in June which left him with multiple fractures, including a broken right femur and a broken elbow. He has slowly been building up his training volumes, including at the Ineos camp in Gran Canaria, Spain in January, but said he is not expecting to be fully up to speed in the seven-day race in the UAE. Froome needs one more Tour de France victory to emulate the record shared by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. (Production: Abdelhadi Ramahi/Bushra Shakhshir)