Chris Froome recovering from surgery following training crash in southern France

Chris Froome is recovering from a succesful surgery in hospital following a training crash in southern France on Wednesday.

"We can confirm that Chris has successfully undergone surgery following his recent injuries," a post on the four time Tour de France winner's 'X' account read. "The procedures went as planned, and Chris is currently recovering in hospital under the care of his medical team." 

L’Équipe initiallyreported that Froome had crashed while training near Saint-Raphaël, and he was taken by helicopter to hospital in Toulon.

Israel-Premier Tech confirmed on Thursday that Froome had been airlifted to hospital in Toulon, where the surgery was to take place on a lumbar vertebrae fracture. He also suffered five broken ribs in the crash.

“Chris Froome was airlifted to hospital in Toulon yesterday afternoon following a serious training crash [no other cyclists or vehicles were involved],” read the IPT statement. 

“Fortunately, Chris is stable and did not sustain any head injuries, however, scans have confirmed a pneumothorax, five broken ribs, and a lumbar vertebrae fracture, for which he will undergo surgery this afternoon. We will update on Chris’ condition following surgery.”

The 40-year-old is in the fifth and final season of his contract with Israel-Premier Tech. Although it is widely expected that he will retire at the end of 2025, Froome has not yet confirmed as much in public. He has indicated that he will start a foundation to help the development cycling in Africa when he retires from racing.

“My contract is expiring, and I don’t know if I’ll continue or not,” Froome told BiciPro recently. “But certainly, when I stop, as I already said, I want to start a cycling school in Africa.”