Chris Froome: Four-time Tour de France champion retires from cycling almost a year on from near-fatal crash
Chris Froome has retired from professional cycling; the four-time Tour de France winner suffered a near-fatal crash in training in August 2025 and has not raced since; he had surgery on vertebrae, collapsed lung and five broken ribs after the incident
Friday 3 July 2026 08:30, UK
Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome has called time on his professional cycling career.
He suffered serious injuries during a training incident in August 2025 and has not raced since.
Speaking to Belgian broadcaster Sporza about whether he was retiring, the 41-year-old said: "Unfortunately, there was that crash last summer, that was not the way I wanted it to end. But even then, I knew it was over."
Froome seemingly later confirmed the news on social media, resharing a throwback post of himself at Mont Ventoux that wished him a happy retirement.
The champion rider won the Tour de France in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, also winning the Giro d'Italia in 2018 and the Vuelta a Espana in both 2011 and 2017 - all with Team Sky.
His wife Michelle last year confirmed the crash in the south of France left Froome needing surgery to repair a fractured vertebrae, collapsed lung and five broken ribs.
However, it was later revealed the operation also uncovered a rupture of the pericardium due to blunt chest trauma which was incurred when Froome collided with a road sign at over 30mph.
"It was obviously a lot more serious than some broken bones. He's fine, but it's going to be a long recovery process," Michelle told The Times.
"He won't be riding a bike for a while. Chris is happy for you to share this because people need to understand what is going on."
Froome was in the final months of the five-year contract he signed when he left Ineos Grenadiers to join Israel Premier-Tech ahead of the 2021 campaign.
Only four men have more Tour titles than Froome, with Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain all five-time winners.
Only Merckx, Anquetil and Hinault have more than Froome's seven Grand Tour titles, which leave him tied with Indurain, Alberto Contador and Fausto Coppi.
However, Froome never recovered the form he enjoyed before a serious crash he suffered during the 2019 Criterium du Dauphine, which left him in intensive care with a fractured femur, elbow, ribs and pelvis.
The last of his 46 professional career wins came at the 2018 Giro and his best result since that 2019 crash was third place on stage 12 of the 2022 Tour de France to Alpe d'Huez as Tom Pidcock took the victory.
Froome broke his collarbone at the UAE Tour in February 2025 and had previously suggested that the season could be his last in professional racing.
