Four-time Tour de France winner Froome retires

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Froome won the last of his four Tour de France titles in 2017 By Mandeep Sanghera BBC Sport journalist Published 7 minutes ago 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. 'The unlikely hero who changed everything' Published 9 July 2020 One of the most memorable moments of Froome's career came during his 2016 win at the Tour de France. Just over one kilometre from the finish line on stage 12, the Briton was forced to run without a bicycle following a crash with a motorbiked on Mont Ventoux. With his bike unrideable and his team car carrying a replacement bike several minutes behind, he set off on foot towards the finish line. He attempted to use a neutral service bike before switching to a third bike from the Team Sky car about 200 metres later, eventually crossing the line shaking his head. "I told myself, 'I don't have a bike and my car is five minutes behind with another bike - it's too far away, I'm going to run a bit'," he said afterwards. In 2017, Froome was the subject of an anti-doping case when he was found to have more than the allowed level of legal asthma drug salbutamol in his urine. The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), which worked closely with the UCI, later accepted there was no breach and recommended the case was dropped. Froome left Team Ineos in 2020 when they decided not to renew his contract and joined Israel-Premier Tech. He worked to return to full fitness following a 2019 crash in which he sustained multiple injuries but struggled to regain the form he had with his former team. Froome was left out of Israel-Premier Tech's past three Tour de France races and was released from the team in November. Related topics Cycling