Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome has brought an end to his illustrious career in professional cycling.
The 41-year-old British rider has not raced since a serious crash in August 2025 when he collided head-on with a road sign at more than 30mph and suffered five broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a lumbar vertebrae fracture.
Froome’s wife later said doctors discovered a pericardial rupture – an injury where the sac that surrounds the heart is torn – during surgery and were able to repair it.
“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 told Belgian broadcaster Sporza.
The Kenyan-born rider retires as one of the most decorated cyclists in history, winning seven Grand Tours with Team Sky (now Team Ineos).
His four Tour de France victories came in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Only four men – Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Eddy Merckx – have won more Tour de France titles.
He also won the Giro d’Italia in 2018 and Vuelta a Espana in 2011 and 2017, and claimed two Olympic bronze medals in the individual time trial in 2012 and 2016.
Froome was made an OBE for his services to cycling in 2015.