Tuscany is where the hearts and minds of the cycling world have been directed this week, with rainbow jerseys at stake and the presidency of the governing body up for grabs after one of the most bitter campaigns sports politics has seen. The thoughts of the Tour de France winner, Chris Froome, have been on the tough circuit around Fiesole where on Sunday he will have a chance of adding a world title to his Tour triumph, but they have also been directed at another continent.

Asked about last week's terrorist attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, the town of his birth, Froome said: "It's been in my thoughts a lot this week. I've been there but it's not somewhere I used to go often. It was pretty much in the centre of Nairobi; I'd probably only go downtown once or month or so.

"When I heard I was really really sad. It was such a scary, scary situation. There were a lot of people, just families and kids going shopping at the weekend, and it would pretty much be the last thing that would ever cross your mind that could happen. It's a really, really sad situation and my heart goes out to all the families affected by that."

None of Froome's family or friends were involved, either directly or indirectly – as far as he is aware – but that does not lessen the shock, he says. "Nairobi is quite a target for terrorism and it's not the first time they've had something happen there. When you see it unfolding like it did, it brings home how you take things for granted and how easily something like that could happen. [With] everything Kenya has to offer, it's just so sad that something like that obviously reflects so, so negatively on the country and I'm sure will put off a lot of people from going there.

"I've got plans for me and [his fiance] Michelle [Cound] to go there in November and see family and friends, but it's not going to change."

Two months on from winning the Tour, Froome will not start as one of the favourites for the world championship road race on Sunday . He will, however, be one of a group of possibles behind the more obvious contenders, who are led by the Italian Vincenzo Nibali, the Slovakian Peter Sagan, Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara and the defending champion, Philippe Gilbert, of Belgium. "It's quite a gamble. It is a bit of a long shot to go for the win … but having said that, I'm up for it. I know I've done the training. A lot of the guys are tired at this time of year and anyone who wins on Sunday will need a little bit of luck in their favour. But I'm definitely up for giving it the best shot possible."

Froome does not have the tactical experience that is the hallmark of the greatest one-day racers, but, against that, the hilly nature of what is held to be one of the toughest world championship circuits in recent years will be in his favour. It has, he says, been the driving force for him to get back in training after his post-Tour break, with the objective of pushing his season into a ninth month with October races such as the Tour of Lombardy and the Japan Cup.

The eight-man British team will start the race with a strategy that looks likely to be the complete opposite of the one that won Mark Cavendish the world title in 2011. There, keeping the field together was the priority; on Sunday Froome says he will be best suited by a tough race that eliminates as many contenders as early as possible. "We're still going to have to sit down with all the guys and come up with the best strategy possible for us. But I think taking on the race and trying to make it the hardest race possible and try to isolate the other sprinters and make it more of a climber's race, that's the way we'll push for it. There'll be a few other teams in a similar position, thinking along the same lines as us."

Natural allies in this strategy would be the Spanish, the Colombians and the Italians, as Froome says, "basically anyone who doesn't have that kind of punchy sprinter like Sagan or Gilbert. The objective for other countries naturally becomes to try to get rid of those guys."

In his view, the Slovak and the Belgian are the danger men. "As long as those two guys are there, then it's basically up to them. The pressure will be on them to pull back any breakaways, not to be making the racing."

For the first time since February, Froome will renew his old alliance with the man who he succeeded as a Tour de France winner, Bradley Wiggins. "I'm expecting Brad to be there in the last few laps," he said. "He's definitely got the form to do it. He's going to be one of the key guys towards the end of the race. It would be great if he could help me towards the finale."

Looking further ahead, Froome sees Sunday's race as the beginning of his build-up to the Rio Olympic Games, depending on how hard the course is there, but in the short term he faces a challenge that is far more complex than winning the Tour de France, because of the tactical niceties and team interests that come into play.

"I'm not exactly very punchy or explosive when it comes to a bunch sprint or a final kick. So if I am to win, I'm going to have to try and go clear on possibly the last couple of laps.

"Having said that, you can be explosive and fast but it's going to boil down to whoever's got the legs after 280km."