Chris Froome has for the first time described in detail the injuries he sustained in a training crash in August 2025, and addressed the confusion surrounding his retirement from the sport.
Speaking to Cyclingnews, the four-time Tour de France champion revealed that he "almost died" in the crash, and that he "almost took it as a given" that the general public knew he had retired.
At the time of the incident, a 40-year-old Chris Froome was coming to the end of a career that had seen him dominate Grand Tours for the seven years between 2013 and 2018. But before he could wave goodbye on his own terms, the training ride crash put a terrifying full-stop on his career and left him in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
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Initial reports described how Froome had been taken by helicopter to hospital in Toulon, and in the following days the gravity of the incident began to emerge, with Froome’s wife Michelle describing how he had suffered a rupture to the pericardium, the sac which protects the heart, as well as multiple other injuries.
Given that, at the time of the incident, Froome was nearing the end of a five-year contract with Israel-Premier Tech, it was clear the crash might also end his career, though no official confirmation came until this year’s Tour de France, when Froome was asked about his status at a press event for Skoda.
"A journalist asked me, 'do you still have plans of racing?' And I was just like, 'listen, this is by no means a retirement announcement, but let me make it absolutely clear: no, no desire whatsoever to be riding my bike anymore. I'm just thankful to be alive right now," said Froome, who was speaking with Cyclingnews at the weekend at an event hosted by Ekoï, the brand that supplies clothing and helmets to his old team, NSN Cycling.
"I almost killed myself on the bike, it was months' hospital time and medical issues, and having to take medication to try and get myself back to health again. It was really just trying to sort myself out, to be able to live a normal life again, I almost took it as a given that everyone knew I'd stopped.
"I was literally in hospital, still, through January. I crashed in August. I was in no state to be making announcements or doing PR.
"I told people when I signed my contract, I said 'this will be my last contract', so I thought it was very clear to people, even though I crashed before I was able to do an official retirement announcement."
'If the ambulance hadn't got there so quickly, I don't think I'd be here today'
Though Froome made no comment on whether he would have been physically able to have carried on racing after sustaining such catastrophic injuries, the details are shocking, and some readers might find his description upsetting.
"I almost died," Froome said, his tone reflecting the gravity of the situation. "My pericardium was open, my heart was exposed. I broke all my ribs, [they] imploded into my chest cavity.
"So I've got metal plates on each of my ribs to hold the rib cage open again, because the whole rib cage like basically collapsed, and the ribs did a lot of damage to the right lung, and one of the ribs tore open the pericardium.
"So I was literally bleeding out. The ambulance got there within, I think seven, eight minutes of my crash, if they hadn't got there so quickly, I don't think I'd be here today. So I'm extremely, extremely lucky."
One of Froome’s weekend duties with Ekoï was riding his bike, but it was a long while after his crash before he was able to get out again.
"I did get on the bike literally just for a spin, I think it was in December sometime, but I had an infection around some of the metal plates that they put on my ribs, and I had to go back into surgery again, and more tubes into my lungs," he said.
"It was only really the end of January, February that I was kind of back into it again. Slowly, just socially now, just getting out, just to clear the head and get out with friends and have a have a good time on the bike."
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