Christopher Clive Froome, OBE (/krɪs fruːm/; born 20 May 1985) is a British professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Israel–Premier Tech.[8][9] He has won seven Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de France (in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017), one Giro d'Italia (2018) and the Vuelta a España twice (2011[N 2] and 2017). He has also won several other stage races, and the Vélo d'Or three times. Froome has also won two Olympic bronze medals in road time trials, in 2012 and 2016, and took bronze in the 2017 World Championships.
Froome was born in Kenya to British parents and grew up there and in South Africa. Since 2011 he has been a resident of Monaco. At the age of 22, Froome turned professional with Team Konica Minolta. In 2008, he joined the team Barloworld. The same year he moved to Italy and started to ride under a British licence. In 2010, he moved to Team Sky and quickly became one of the team's key cyclists. Froome made his breakthrough as a Grand Tour contender during the 2011 Vuelta a España where he finished second overall, later promoted to first, retrospectively becoming the first British cyclist to win a Grand Tour cycling event. At the 2012 Tour de France, riding as a super-domestique for Bradley Wiggins, Froome won stage seven and finished second overall, behind Wiggins.
His first recognised multi-stage race win came in 2013, in the Tour of Oman, followed by wins in the Critérium International, the Tour de Romandie, the Critérium du Dauphiné, and the Tour de France. In the 2014 Tour de France, he retired after multiple crashes. In 2015, he won his second Critérium du Dauphiné and his second Tour de France. He won a third Tour de France in 2016 and became the first man since Miguel Induráin in 1995 to successfully defend his title. He won his fourth Tour de France in 2017, followed by successive wins at the 2017 Vuelta a España and the 2018 Giro d'Italia, his first victories in both races.[N 3] These achievements made him the first cyclist to win the Tour–Vuelta double since the Vuelta was moved to September, the first rider to achieve any Grand Tour double in nearly a decade, and the first to hold all three Grand Tour winners' jerseys at the same time since Bernard Hinault in 1983.
Throughout his career Froome has faced a series of allegations that he exploited a loophole in cycling's anti-doping regulations to use performance-enhancing drugs and in 2023 his former coach was banned for violating anti-doping rules and tampering with anti-doping investigations.[10][11] In 2019 a serious training crash before the Critérium du Dauphiné halted Froome's career, after he broke numerous bones including his pelvis, femur and four ribs. Although he managed to recover following surgery to return to the peloton in 2020, he struggled to regain his former form. He left Ineos Grenadiers at the end of 2020 to join Israel Start-Up Nation but his form struggles continued through the 2021 season, with Froome failing to contend seriously in stage races since his accident. His post-accident struggles drew comparisons with former grand tour contender and three-time podium winner Joseba Beloki who infamously crashed out of the 2003 Tour de France while in contention for the victory, and never recovered his former grand tour form.[12] His most notable Grand Tour accomplishment post-accident was a 3rd-place finish on the Alpe d'Huez stage of the 2022 Tour de France. Froome was in the top 30 overall on general classification when forced to pull out by illness.
Despite these struggles, Froome remained the most successful general classification rider still active in the peloton as of 2022.
- ^ "No. 61450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2015. p. N12.
- ^ "Chris Froome leads Tour of Oman after second place in stage". BBC Sport. 14 February 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
- ^ "And we thought 'Froomedog' was just a nickname – key aspect of Sky rider's Salbutamol defence said to hinge on study carried out on canines". Road.cc. 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- ^ "Chris Froome – Team INEOS". Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ "Chris Froome". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ "Team Sky". Cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
- ^ "Chris Froome to leave Team INEOS at end of season". Team Ineos. Tour Racing Limited. 9 July 2020. Archived from the original on 9 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
- ^ "Israel Start-Up Nation". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
- ^ "Israel Start-Up Nation confirms Chris Froome signing". Cyclingnews.com. 9 July 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
- ^ Daniel Ostanek (15 August 2023). "Former British Cycling doctor Richard Freeman banned for anti-doping violation". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
- ^ Ballinger, Alex (22 May 2020). "TUEs don't help you win an Olympic medal, according to anti-doping study". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
- ^ Alasdair Fotheringham (18 June 2019). "Beloki: A crash like Chris Froome's is a life-changing experience". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
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