Chris Froome opens up on missing Tour de France and injury recovery
Froome: "I could barely even breathe after surgery"
Last Updated: 03/08/19 12:01pm
Team Ineos cyclist Chris Froome says his horror crash at the Criterium du Dauphine felt like a “freak accident” from a television drama.
The four-time Tour de France winner suffered a fractured neck, femur, ribs and broken hip after crashing into a wall on a trial route of the Dauphine.
In a video released by Team Ineos, Froome, speaking for the first time since the incident, explains what he went through as he came to terms with the severity of his injuries and the realisation he would miss the Tour.
"I think it really was one of those freak, freak accidents," Froome said in a video released by Team Ineos on Saturday.
"I can remember lying on the ground and I remember the first responders coming over to me. My coach Tim Kerrison, Gary Blem, my mechanic and Servais Knaven, my director, were all in the car behind me.
"I think my first question was, 'Can I get up? Can I get back on my bike? Am I going to be OK?' And they made it very clear that I wasn't and I should just lie still and that I wouldn't be carrying on with the rest of the race.
"One of my first questions was, 'Am I going to be alright for the Tour de France?' and they very quickly put that out of my mind.
"They obviously couldn't give a prognosis but they said it looks like your leg is broken and your arm doesn't look good either. So no, you're not going to be on your bike.
"I think those first few moments are the ones that really sort of hit home and I took it on board that I'm not going be racing the Tour de France this summer. It almost felt like a scene from Grey's Anatomy or something."
Froome was immediately taken to hospital in Saint-Etienne where he underwent a lengthy operation.
"I could barely even breathe after surgery," he said. "My lungs had been damaged by my broken ribs and my broken sternum. I was coughing up blood and was having help to breathe.
"It was scary when I came around the morning after the operation and just felt how hopeless I was, lying in that bed. Twenty-four hours previously I was hoping to win the Criterium du Dauphine.
"It was polar opposites. That was quite hard to come to terms with."
But Froome said his mindset changed as soon as he was told by surgeons that he could make a 100 per cent recovery.
"That's all I wanted to hear at that point," he said. "From that point on, it felt like everyone was so positive."
Froome said he is doing up to six hours of exercises a day and has been given the green light to start bearing weight on his damaged right leg.
"I think it's safe to say I'm ahead of all the predictions that were made initially," he said.
A long battle remains in front of him given the seriousness of his injuries and it remains to be seen if he can return to his previous level, but Froome is clear on his target.
"The only goal I've set myself is to get back to the Tour de France next year," he said.
"Week by week I set myself little goals in terms of allowing myself a bit more movement, just small goals. But for me, the underlying goal is to get to the start of the Tour de France next year in 2020 and to be at a similar or better position than I was this year.
"That's what's driving me at the moment."
