Chris Froome returns to training for first time

Chris Froome (Team Ineos) has resumed training for the first time since his crash at the Critérium du Dauphiné in June.

The four-time Tour de France champion has been off the bike ever since falling on a descent during a recon of the time trial course during the race. He suffered fractured femur, elbow, vertebrae and sternum, as well as losing four pints of blood, and was forced to miss the Tour de France as a result.

Froome has already been riding on an indoor trainer, but Thursday marked the first time he had been on a bike outdoors in over two months. He completed two laps of a local velodrome, but confirmed on Twitter that he isn't able to race on the road. 

A video posted to Twitter by a fan showed Froome at the track talking about his crash.

While he has been out of action, Froome inherited the overall victory at the 2011 Vuelta a España, after Juan José Cobo was found guilty of an anti-doping rule violation based on abnormalities in his Biological Passport dating from 2009 to 2011.

Back in July, Froome confirmed that he is targeting the 2020 Tour de France, and a tilt at a fifth title, as the endpoint of his rehabilitation. He said that he was ahead of schedule on his comeback, saying, "I'm ahead of all the predictions that were made initially of how long it would take even just to get to this point."