Chris Froome (Team Ineos) has crashed out of the Criterium du Dauphine, fracturing his femur and so ending his hopes of riding the Tour de France.
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The British rider fell during the recon of the stage 4 time trial and was airlifted to hospital for treatment. The news was confirmed on Twitter by Team Ineos and by team manager Dave Brailsford. The fall took place towards the end of his late morning recon of the 26.1km stage around Roanne.
Froome came into the stage within touching distance of the yellow jersey and was set to lead Team Ineos at the Tour de France in July. He was using the Dauphine has his final warm up race for the Tour de France. He performed well on stage 2 of the race and made the key selection when the GC riders attacked on the final climb.
This morning he set out along with his Team Ineos teammates for a recon of the stage 4 course. It was meant to be his first and only individual time trial ahead of this year’s Tour de France, where he was looking to win the race for the fifth time in his career.
Froome was using the Criterium du Dauphine as his final warm-up race head of the Tour de France. He performed well on stage 2 of the race and made the key selection when the GC riders attacked on the final climb. This morning he set out alongside his Team Ineos teammates for a recon of the stage 4 course. It was meant to be his first and only individual time trial ahead of this year’s Tour de France, where he was looking to win the race for the fifth time in his career.
On Tuesday Dave Brailsford expressed his wish to back Froome’s quest for a fifth Tour de France title this July. The team won the race in 2018 through Geraint Thomas, who is set to take part in the Tour de Suisse later this month. Brailsford is set to speak officially after today's stage.
Daniel Benson is the Editor in Chief at both Cyclingnews.com and BikePerfect.com. Based in the UK, he has worked within cycling for almost 15 years, and he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he has reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he runs the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.