Four-time Tour de France champion, Chris Froome, has announced his retirement from professional cycling, ending a career that saw him become one of the sport’s most successful riders.
The 41-year-old British cyclist has not competed since suffering serious injuries in a crash in August 2025, when he collided head-on with a road sign at more than 30mph.
Froome sustained five broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a lumbar vertebra fracture. His wife later revealed that doctors also discovered and repaired a pericardial rupture, an injury involving a tear in the sac surrounding the heart.
“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.
Career defined by Grand Tour success
Chris Froome retires with seven Grand Tour titles won during his time with Team Sky, now Team Ineos.
He claimed Tour de France victories in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Only Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Eddy Merckx have won the race more times.
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He also won the Vuelta a España in 2011 and 2017 and the Giro d’Italia in 2018. In addition, he earned Olympic bronze medals in the individual time trial at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games.
Froome was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2015 for his services to cycling.
Defining moments
One of the most memorable moments of Froome’s career came during the 2016 Tour de France on Mont Ventoux.
After a collision with a motorbike left him without a rideable bicycle, Froome ran towards the finish before receiving replacement bikes from neutral service and his team car.
“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 after the stage.
Another defining achievement came in the 2018 Giro d’Italia, where he completed a dramatic comeback by winning stage 19 by more than three minutes before securing the overall title.
Challenges and final years
In 2017, Froome faced an anti-doping investigation after testing above the permitted limit for the legal asthma medication salbutamol. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), working with the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), later concluded there had been no anti-doping rule violation, and the case was dropped.
Froome left Team Ineos in 2020 after his contract was not renewed and joined Israel-Premier Tech.
He spent much of the latter part of his career trying to recover from the serious injuries suffered in a 2019 crash, including a broken femur and hip, but was unable to regain the level that made him one of cycling’s dominant riders.
His best result after joining Israel-Premier Tech was third place on stage 12 of the 2022 Tour de France, won by Tom Pidcock on Alpe d’Huez.
Froome was omitted from the team’s final three Tour de France squads before leaving the outfit in November.
Legacy in cycling
Born in Nairobi, Kenya, to British parents, Froome switched sporting nationality to Great Britain in 2008 before joining Team Sky in 2010.
He became the central figure in Team Sky’s successful Grand Tour strategy, combining disciplined teamwork with a scientific approach to training that helped transform modern professional cycling.
As well as his Tour de France triumphs, Froome won two Giro d’Italia stages, five Vuelta a España stages and three editions of the Critérium du Dauphiné.
He never returned to the Tour de France after the 2022 edition, bringing to a close a career closely associated with cycling’s biggest race.
