Having spent months in a strange vacuum, Schrodinger’s cyclist, neither professional nor retired, Chris Froome finally, formally drew the curtain on his career.
The prompt was a question at a Q&A as part of his new job as Skoda’s latest brand ambassador. One suspects that, had he not been asked the question, he would have never addressed it. Perhaps because drawing the curtain on the final years of his career would have been a tad embarrassing. Signed to win the Tour de France for Israel-Premier Tech, Froome’s best result was a third place on a single stage, and a 133rd overall.
Such was his form, the team omitted him from all three Grand Tours during the final three years of his contract, instead relegating the seven-time Grand Tour winner to races such as the Sibiu Tour of Romania and the Tour of Guangxi. But everyone else has written about all this, as well as the mitigating factors and reminders of the all-conquering champion he was a decade ago. In fact, we even ruminated on all this during his long retirement limbo all the way back in November.
> Chris Froome’s retirement limbo leaves the sport of cycling to grapple with a difficult legacy
So instead, let us wander briefly down memory lane to some of our favourite, more left-field moments from his career…
Disc brake grievances
As late as 2023, Froome could not get his head around disc brakes, disliking their noise and blaming them for slow wheel changes.
> Fed up Froome denounces disc brake wheels on Instagram Reel
Despite most pro teams switching from rim to disc brakes by the late 2010s, the Brit was a stickler, only making the switch in 2021 when he left Ineos Grenadiers. And even then, it sounds like he needed some convincing in a video promoting his own bike…
“The downsides to disc brakes: the constant rubbing, the potential for mechanicals, the overheating – the discs becoming a bit warped when you’re on a descent for longer than 5-10 minutes of constant braking.
“Personally I just don’t think the technology is quite where it needs to be yet for road cycling, I think that the distance between the the disc and the rotors is still just too narrow so you’re gonna get that rubbing, you’re gonna get one piston that fires more than another. You’re gonna get these little issues.
> Chris Froome’s mechanic agrees with his boss: “I’m not a huge fan of disc brakes”
“I don’t think the pistons retract quite the way they’re meant to be all the time. Quite often it will work on the stand when the mechanic sorts it out but then once you get onto the road it’s a different story.
“I accept that’s the direction the industry wants to go. We as bike riders are going to have to adapt to learn to use them and I think if you’re not on disc brakes already it’s only a matter of time until you’re made obsolete in a way and forced onto them.”
Maybe Froome’s retirement makes his own prophecy come true…
Ventoux
As a teenager, this was the only time friends approached me to talk about cycling. There are probably around three people in the world who remember the winner of that stage, and one of them is Thomas De Gendt. After strong winds brought the summit finish down to Chalet Reynard, the crowds were suddenly overflowing on the narrow lower slopes.
After the motorbikes were unable to pull ahead through the thronging masses, they stopped abruptly, causing Richie Porte, Bauke Mollema (also retiring this year) and Froome down to the ground. The maillot jaune’s bike was broken and with his team car stranded behind, he was forced to run up the mountain in his cleats.
> Chris Froome runs up Mont Ventoux: Twitter, Lance Armstrong, Geraint Thomas…er, and Chris Froome react (from 2016)
After an ill-fitting Mavic neutral service bike was offered and soon rejected, finally Froome’s team car reached him, but he was left far behind overall before the commissaires gave Froome and Team Sky a reprieve and the same time as Mollema, much to the Dutchman’s annoyance. It was testament to the power and influence the team held at that time…
Crash Froome
Having grown up between Kenya and South Africa, it’s maybe unsurprising that Froome never seemed fully at ease in a peloton, or indeed on open roads. Joints gangly, staring at his stem, the fact Froome made it as a professional is as remarkable as his growth into a Grand Tour machine. Yet none of his most famous crashes came in the bunch.
On a time trial recon at the 2019 Criterium du Dauphine, he crashed into a wall, losing four pints of blood and suffering neck, femur, sternum, elbow, and rib fractures. Just last year he was airlifted to hospital after a crash whilst training. He was diagnosed with a broken back, five broken ribs, and a rupture to the sac lining of his heart.
But the most memorable, and definitely least life-threatening, was his ride into a commissaire just off the start ramp at the under-23 time trial at the 2006 World Championships. Having entered himself into the event, bypassing the Kenyan Cycling Federation big wigs, Froome seemed unaware of which way to turn after setting off, and consequently hit the man in the middle. The photo was iconic…
Old sores stem from the saddle
In the middle period of Froome’s career autumn (that definitely makes sense), we were treated to several excuses justifying Froome’s inability to regain his former level. Serious injury was an obvious one, disc brakes were another, but then came saddle gate.
After missing out on selection for the 2023 Tour de France, Froome insisted he was denied the chance to show his worth by repeated bike changes and a saddle slip at his final warm-up races.
> Chris Froome “let down” by Tour de France snub, blames “frustrating” equipment issues
Later that year the then-38 year old would double down, saying his bike set-up at Israel-Premier Tech had “very big discrepancies” compared to when he was at Ineos, and claimed his saddle height was out by “centimetres”.
At this point team owner Sylvan Adams, who had invested an estimated €5 million a year on his star rider and previously said it was “absolutely not” value-for-money, ran out of patience.
“If he wants to race in a grand tour next season, he has to meet certain criteria and be one of the best eight members of our team. Right now, I haven’t seen any results from Chris that indicate that he’s at that level, but he’s very determined.
“If he doesn’t meet that level, well he can talk about his bike position until the cows come home – that’s still not going to earn him a position on a grand tour team, his legs will have to do that.”
Sadly for both men, Froome’s legs did not recover to do that.
Happy retirement Chris!
1 thought on “Ventoux heroics, disc brakes, crashes, saddle complaints… memorable moments from Chris Froome’s (former) career”
A fine career from a great rider, backed by an exceptional team. I hope that we haven’t lost him completely from the world of cycling.
There were a few solo breakaways, when and where I cannot recall, but they were just great and for me unexpected.