Chris Froome seriously injured in training crash, suffering five broken ribs, a back fracture, and a collapsed lung

Six years on from the horror crash that derailed his career at the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné, Chris Froome has suffered another serious training injury, breaking five ribs, sustaining a fracture to his lower back, and suffering a collapsed lung in a crash near his home in the south of France.

The 40-year-old crashed hard while training in Saint-Raphaël, a resort town on the Côte d’Azur, on Wednesday afternoon and was airlifted to hospital in Toulon, his Israel-Premier Tech team confirmed this afternoon.

In a social media post published by both his team and Froome’s personal account, it was confirmed that no other cyclists or motorists were involved in the crash.

Despite the severity of his injuries, Froome remained conscious following the crash and was able to speak to those around him, according to a report in L’Équipe.

The four-time Tour de France winner, who last raced at the Tour of Poland earlier this month, is currently in a stable condition and underwent surgery.

“Chris Froome was airlifted to hospital in Toulon yesterday afternoon following a serious training crash [no other cyclists or vehicles were involved],” Thursday’s statement read.

“Fortunately, Chris is stable and 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.

“We will update on Chris’ condition following surgery.”

On Friday morning, a statement followed on Froome’s own social media channels, the update confirming he had been successfully operated on and is “in good spirits”.

“We can confirm that Chris has successfully undergone surgery following his recent injuries,” the statement began. “The procedures went as planned, and Chris is currently recovering in hospital under the care of his medical team.

“He is in good spirits and grateful for the excellent medical support he has received. Chris and his family would like to thank fans, friends, and the cycling community for their concern and kind messages during this time.”

It is expected that this week’s crash will rule Froome out for the rest of the season, after which his contract with Israel-Premier Tech is due to run out. The 40-year-old is yet to confirm whether this season will be his last in the professional peloton, and has been evasive when posed the question in recent months.

If this latest season-ending crash proves to be the end of Froome’s career as a pro cyclist, it will mark the culmination of a run of bad luck that has followed the British rider since his horror crash at the Dauphiné.

During a course recon at the French stage race, Froome, then riding for Ineos, crashed into a wall, losing four pints of blood and suffering neck, femur, sternum, elbow, and rib fractures.

Though he was able to return to racing eight months later, Froome has struggled to regain anything close to the form that saw him take four Tour de France wins, two editions of the Vuelta a España, a Giro d’Italia (his last professional victory), and numerous other stage races as Team Sky dominated the 2010s.

Since joining Israel-Premier Tech from Ineos in 2021, Froome has consistently struggled for results, which he initially blamed on equipment and set-up issues, including suggesting that his position on his new bike was “centimetres” apart from his Sky-issue Pinarello.

This prompted a war of public words with team owner Sylvan Adams, who branded the British rider’s set-up complaints as “illogical” and claimed that his big-name signing was not offering “value for money” and was currently riding like a “pedestrian domestique”.

Injuries and crashes have also scuppered Froome’s time at Israel-Premier Tech, where his best result has been a third place on the Alpe d’Huez stage of the 2022 Tour, behind Tom Pidcock.

Ahead of the 2022 season, he was forced to deal with a knee injury due to “overtraining”, and in the same year was the victim of a dooring incident while returning home from a training ride, sustaining a grazed hip and a damaged elbow.

In March 2024, he was forced to abandon Tirreno-Adriatico after fracturing his wrist, later summing up his situation on social media as: “I can’t catch a break”.

And in February this year, he broke his collarbone in a crash on the final stage of the UAE Tour, which ruled him out for two months.

Crashes and bad luck aside, this year – his 18th in the peloton since turning pro with Barloworld in 2008 – has been another underwhelming one for the greatest grand tour rider of the 2010s, his best result coming on stage two of the Sibiu Tour, where he finished 47th.

Off the road, Froome has also been forced to publicly distance himself from his former soigneur David Rozman, after the Ineos head carer – who was known to have a close relationship with Froome during his time at the British team – left the Tour de France amid a fresh investigation into alleged links to convicted doping doctor Mark Schmidt.