Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome has been airlifted to hospital in France after a ‘serious’ crash while training, resulting in a collapsed lung, a break in his back and five broken ribs.
Froome, 40, was flown to hospital in Toulon and will have surgery today with his cycling career on the line.
A statement from Froome’s team today read: ‘Chris was airlifted to hospital in Toulon yesterday afternoon following a serious training crash (no other vehicles or cyclists were involved).
‘Fortunately, his condition is stable and he did not sustain any head injuries. However, scans have confirmed a pneumothorax, five broken ribs and a lumbar vertebrae fracture, for which he will undergo surgery this afternoon.’
Froome, who lives in Monaco, was riding near Saint-Raphael, in the south of France, when he fell, according to a report by French outlet L’Equipe.
Froome was conscious and communicating with people around him while being airlifted. He did not hit his head in the accident.
Chris Froome, 40, was unconscious as he was flown to hospital and will have surgery today
Froome, pictured with wife Michelle, has a collapsed lung and has broken several bones
Froome is now expected to miss the remainder of the cycling season.
The Briton’s contract at the Israel-Premier Tech team runs out at the end of the year, and the crash follows on from a broken collarbone that he sustained at the UAE tour in February.
With no plans to sign a new deal on the horizon, Froome’s 18-year professional riding career has been cast into doubt.
Earlier this month, he was asked by bici.PRO what the future holds in terms of his career. His response was coy.
‘My contract is expiring and I don’t know if I’ll continue or not,’ Froome told the website.
He then revealed that he has plans to grow the sport of cycling in Africa, his home continent, having been born in Kenya in 1985.
‘What’s certain is that when I stop, as I’ve been saying for some time, I want to open a cycling school in Africa,’ he continued. ‘I want to give lots of young people the opportunity to ride and pursue a career.
‘I think it’s a growing continent, especially in that part of Africa. I’m thinking of the Ethiopian and Kenyan marathon and middle-distance runners. I think there are talents like that who are also suited to cycling, they just haven’t had the opportunity to race before.
The Briton’s contract with the Israel-Premier Tech team runs out at the end of this season
Froome is now expected to miss the rest of the cycling campaign which means his career may have come to an end
‘I won’t be racing in the World Championships in Rwanda, and it’s clear that I would have liked to be there, but it’s not a big problem because it doesn’t change my plans. My real goal is to develop a great project that I’m sure will bring interesting new riders.’
Froome secured his first Tour de France title in 2013 before securing three of the following four titles.
He hasn’t won a major tour since 2018, when he raced for Team Sky, triumphing at Giro d’Italia for the first and only time.
The British rider has seemingly never recovered from breaking his femur in a high-speed crash in the midst of the 2019 Tour de France.
Following the crash, which kept him out for eight months, he became part of the Israel-Premier Tech team.
The two-time Olympic medallist felt that he had been handed a ‘second chance’ to return to the ‘sport I love’.
‘I feel I’ve been given a second chance,’ he said. ‘I’ve been given an opportunity to come back to bike racing and the sport I love. Had the crash marked the end of my career, I’d have felt I still had more to give.
‘Even though I’m not at the front end of races now, I’m still getting a lot of pleasure doing my job and being part of the Israel-Premier Tech team.
Froome is a British cycling legend and has won four Tour de France titles in his 18-year career
‘It’s as if I’ve rewound 15 years and that I’m looking to get to the top level. It’s a fresh approach for me and I’m hoping to do it for a few more years.’
He has been married to Michelle Cound for 11 years, having met in 2009, and the couple now lives in Monaco.
The pair have two children together, a son named Kellan, and a daughter named Katie.
