The Israel-Premier Tech team have refuted a report in French newspaper L’Equipe that claims a leadership feud between Chris Froome and Michel Woods meant the former four-time Tour winner was not selected for last year's race and that sponsor pressure could see Froome back at the 2024 Tour de France despite a lack of recent results.
L’Equipe quoted an unnamed rider agent who said: “Michael Woods is no match for Chris with the organisers. We are fighting for [Froome] because his name remains associated with his four victories on the Tour de France.”
The newspaper also claimed that Woods secured Froome’s exclusion from the 2023 Tour de France squad. Froome was frustrated not to be selected for last year’s Tour but has since promised to race on at least until the end of 2025.
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Team owner Sylvan Adams was critical of Froome last summer, saying he wasn’t value for money. L’Equipe suggests that Froome was initially paid a salary of €4.5 million. However, Cyclingnews understands this is not true, with such a large salary linked to the arrival of a sponsor that ultimately failed to come on board.
Froome and Woods quickly dismissed the report but L’Equipe have not edited their story.
“This is news to me,” Froome wrote on X with a laughing emoji. “What about you, @rusty_woods (Michael Woods?)”
The Canadian replied: “Haha, same here mate.”
“It seems to be a complete fabrication of view on things in the team, especially related to myself and Woodsy, saying there’s some feud between us. We’re good mates,” Froome said before stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné.
“It will be tough to make the team. I think it very much depends on what the team’s objectives are. At this point that seems to be stage hunting and how capable riders are of being able to achieve that.”
“We’ve all got opportunities here at Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour de Suisse to show how capable they are of fulfilling that team objective. I’m going to try to get up the road and show myself while building my form and finding some race intensity.”
Israel-Premier Tech said they were surprised by the L’Equipe story. Sports manager Rik Verbrugge told Cyclingnews that Froome’s presence at this year’s Tour de France will be decided by his performances and the sporting cohesion of the team.
“It's big bullshit. I have no idea where that information came from,” Verbrugge told Cyclingnews at the Critérium du Dauphiné.
“First of all, Chris Froome’s non-selection last year was a performance decision and a team decision to have a strong team at the start of the Tour de France. Woodsy won a stage and that was the goal of the Tour de France. The owners of the team were super happy with that performance.
“There is no tension between the two riders. There is no pressure from any of our sponsors to bring Chris Froome to the Tour de France, even for 2024.
Froome’s 2024 season was disrupted by a scaphoid fracture in his wrist at Tirreno-Adriatico and he only returned to racing at this week’s Critérium du Dauphiné. Woods crashed and suffered a mild concussion during stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia. He is due to ride the Vuelta a Espana and not the Tour de France in 2024.
Verbrugge did not exclude Froome’s selection in the final eight-rider Israel-Premier Tech Tour de France squad. However he faces competition from the likes of Derek Gee, Hugo Houle, Dylan Teuns, Pascal Ackermann, George Bennett and Stevie Williams.
“Chris broke his wrist in Tirreno-Adriatico and that slowed his progression. Now let's see how he progresses until the start of the Tour de France,” Verbrugge told Cyclingnews.
“Selection for the Tour will not only be based on Chris Froome’s performance, the sporting cohesion of the team is also important.
“The selection will be made after the Tour de Suisse when we have all the information from the riders. The best team that we can put on the start line will go to the Tour de France.”
