Chris Froome will race 2018 Giro d'Italia in bid to complete triple crown as tough route is revealed

Chris Froome has announced he will compete in the 2018 Giro d'Italia and attempt to complete a career triple crown of Grand Tours.

Only six riders in the history of cycling have won all three Grand Tours and the reigning Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana champion will seek to seal the historic feat next year.

The challenging route, which was revealed in a ceremony in Milan on Wednesday, will begin in Israel and finish in Rome, featuring eight summit finishes including Mount Etna in Sicily and the menacing Monte Zoncolan in the Italian Alps.

The route includes two time trials but the trio of summit finishes leading into the final stage race are expected to severely test the riders and favour the strongest climbers in the peloton.

There was an added buzz in the build-up to the ceremony as rumours swirled about Froome's participation and he confirmed he will race in a video message. He will be paid €2m by Israel, according to a report by Cycling News, with the country keen to maximise the opportunity to host one of cycling's prize events.

Froome said: "I feel as if my cycling career started in Italy in some ways. I lived there for three years when I began my career as a professional, so having the opportunity to go back to the Giro in the position I am now in, and with the opportunity I have, feels in some ways like completing a circle."

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The race will begin on May 4 with a time trial in west Jerusalem, before travelling from Be'er Sheva to Tel Aviv on a rolling stage two and finishing its Israel leg with the third stage to the southern city of Eilat.

From there the race will move to Sicily with the first summit finish of the tour, stage six, on top of the volcanic Mount Etna. After travelling up from the south of Italy and taking in the Alps in the north of the country, it will finish with an effective procession around Rome on May 27.

Stage 14 will be particularly gruelling, finishing on top of Zoncolan for only the sixth time in the race's history, a 10km summit finish reaching gradients of more than 20% at its steepest. While the time trials will help riders like last year's winner, Tom Dumoulin, the test summits are likely to prove extremely challenging for those riders not suited to climbing.

“The route is great with some really nice time trials," said Dumoulin. "Neither the Tour de France or Giro are completely perfect for me this coming year, but we’ll see. I think at the Giro the climbers and GC riders have an equally fair chance of victory.”

The race director, Mauro Vegni, said the revelation of the route was "emotional" and hailed the bold move to begin the Giro in Israel for the first time. "I think this great start in Jerusalem is very important for the Giro's internationalisation," he said. "It is exactly what the Giro wants to communicate to the world.

"The first time trial will be followed by stages through important cities, like Tel Aviv. Culture, landscapes – fascinating in every detail."