is froome riding the tour de france 2023

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Chris Froome misses out on Tour de France place but vows to return in 2024

• Froome left out of eight-man Israel-Premier Tech team
• ‘I respect the team’s decision’ says four-times champion

Chris Froome, the four-time Tour de France winner, has been surprisingly omitted from Israel Premier Tech’s eight-rider squad for this year’s race.

Froome, who has struggled to reach his former level after suffering severe injuries in a crash in June 2019, had been widely expected to start the race when it gets under way in Bilbao at the beginning of July and had recently trained with the team’s Tour de France shortlist of riders.

But a lack of results, allied to what Froome referred to as “equipment issues” when he responded to his omission, meant that the 38-year-old did not make the cut. And despite his insistence that he could again contend for the Tour, it now seems unlikely that he will ever start the French race again.

There was no mention of Froome in the press release announcing the team’s Tour lineup. Instead, Israel Premier Tech announced it will be led by the in-form Canadian climber, Michael Woods, the recent winner of the Route d’Occitanie in the French Pyrenees.

Froome, who subsequently gave a statement to Global Cycling Network, said that physically he was ready to start the Tour, but that during the buildup, he had felt unable to show what he called his “full ability at the races assigned to me, due to equipment issues.”

He added: “I respect the team’s decision and will take some time before refocusing on objectives later in the season and returning to the Tour de France in 2024.”

Froome’s best performance in the Tour, since his disastrous reconnaissance crash at the Critérium du Dauphiné, came in last year’s stage to Alpe d’Huez, when he finished third behind the stage winner, Tom Pidcock.

However, that has been the sole Grand Tour highlight of his career since leaving Team Ineos. Despite his insistence that he would eventually reach his former level, he has struggled in the biggest climbs and has been a shadow of his once-dominant former self.

Froome has an illustrious Grand Tour resume. He was winner of the Tour de France in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, as well as the Giro d’Italia in 2018 and the Vuelta a España in 2011 and 2017, while with Team Sky and subsequently Team Ineos.

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However, those successes were also dogged by scepticism, which came to a head in the spring of 2018 when an adverse finding for salbutamol use became public knowledge, although he vehemently denied any wrongdoing and the case against him was eventually dropped by the Union Cycliste Internationale.

Although he is already talking about competing in the 2024 Tour, it is unclear if Froome will continue with his current team. On signing Froome as his most high-profile rider in late 2020, Israel Premier Tech’s team owner, Sylvan Adams, said that Froome would remain with the team “until the end of his career.”

“Chris will stay with us until his retirement,” Adams told cyclingnews.com . “The duration [of the contract]was established by Chris’s desire to race for so many more years.”

Froome’s thoughts may now turn towards other races later this season, but retirement, or at least a transition to gravel racing, a path pursued by other past Tour winners, such as Italian Vincenzo Nibali, may also be looming.

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Chris Froome to miss Tour de France 2023 as Israel-Premier Tech leave out multiple Grand Tour champion

Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome has been left out of the Israel-Premier Tech squad for this year's event; Froome won the 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017 editions of cycling's most famous race with Team Sky; the 2023 Tour de France takes place from July 1 to July 23

By Nigel Chiu

Friday 23 June 2023 11:45, UK

Chris Froome will miss this year's Tour de France after being left out of the Israel-Premier Tech squad.

Froome, 38, has struggled with form since the middle of 2019, when he crashed into a wall at high speed on a training ride - fracturing his right femur, elbow, and ribs.

He left Team Ineos, formerly known as Team Sky, at the end of 2020 to join Israel Premier-Tech and recently stated this year's Tour was his "ultimate goal", only to not be picked by his team.

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Only Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain have won more yellow jerseys than Froome, who is contracted to ride for Israel Premier-Tech until the end of 2025 which would take him into his 40s.

"'I'm obviously disappointed with the decision. The Tour de France holds an incredibly special place in my heart," Froome told GCN .

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"Physically I was ready, but unfortunately I was unable to show my full ability at the races assigned to me due to equipment issues.

"I respect the team's decision and will take some time before refocusing on objectives later in the season and returning to the Tour de France in 2024."

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Michael Woods and Dylan Teuns will lead Israel-Premier Tech's team with Guillaume Boivin, Simon Clarke, Hugo Houle, Krists Neilands, Nick Schultz and Corbin Strong making up the rest of the eight-rider squad.

"It was a tough decision to select our Tour de France team this year but we feel we selected eight riders best suited to fulfilling our performance objectives," added Israel-Premier Tech general manager Kjell Carlstrom.

"The fact that we had a difficult decision to make when looking at our long list shows the strength and depth of our rider group, and unfortunately we could not select everyone."

We are lining up at @LeTour with a versatile team aiming for stage wins! 🎙️ "I believe that each of our eight selected riders has what it takes to be victorious in this race." - Sports Manager, Rik Verbrugghe. Read all about our TDF lineup right here: https://t.co/8kDSwuBHVO __… pic.twitter.com/BL3bM6UrwU — Israel – Premier Tech (@IsraelPremTech) June 23, 2023

What to look out for at the 2023 Tour de France

This year's Tour de France begins on July 1 in Spain and is set to see a big battle for the yellow jersey between Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar and Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard.

The pair had a thrilling duel last year and Vingegaard came out on top to claim his first Tour title. However, Pogacar was in superb form earlier this season as he notched up major wins at Paris-Nice, the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold and La Fleche Wallonne, before suffering an accident in April.

Mark Cavendish will retire at the end of this year, so will ride at the Tour de France for one last time. The Manx Missile needs just one stage win to surpass Merckx's record of 34.

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Cavendish was not picked for last year's event and will ride for Astana Qazaqstan in his final outing in the sport's biggest race.

He won the final stage of the Giro d'Italia in May, just days after announcing his retirement, and will be closely watched during the sprint stages at the Tour.

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Chris Froome not selected for Tour de France 2023

38-year-old misses out on 'ultimate goal' as Israel-Premier Tech confirm eight-man squad

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Four-time race winner Chris Froome has not been selected for the Tour de France this year, his Israel-Premier Tech team confirmed on Friday. 

The 38-year-old, who has competed in 10 Tours de France throughout his career, will therefore not take the start line in Bilbao on 1 July. It will be the first edition a fit Froome has missed since 2011.

Instead, Israel-Premier Tech will line up with Vuelta a España stage winner Michael Woods as their leader. The Canadian will be joined in the team's eight-man squad by Guillaume Boivin, Simon Clarke, Hugo Houle, Krists Neilands, Nick Schultz, Corbin Strong and Dylan Teuns.  

In a statement, team boss Kjell Carlström said: “It was a tough decision to select our Tour de France team this year but we feel we selected eight riders best suited to fulfilling our performance objectives. 

“The fact that we had a difficult decision to make when looking at our long list shows the strength and depth of our rider group, and unfortunately we could not select everyone. We carefully looked at the necessary roles to fill when it comes to hunting for stage wins and chose our eight riders accordingly.” 

Froome is considered as one of the greatest GC riders of his generation, winning the yellow jersey in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. 

In a recent interview with French outlet DirectVelo , the Brit revealed he had been struggling with a minor tendon injury at the start of the year, but that the Tour remained “the ultimate goal”. 

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“It’s the race in which I’ve had my nicest feelings, where all the best riders in the world compete in their best form,” he said. “Obviously I’m not going to go to the Tour to fight for the overall, but if I can try to go for a stage win, that would be great.” 

At last year’s race, Froome climbed to an impressive third atop Alpe d’Huez on stage 12 , having been part of the day’s breakaway. Still, the 38-year-old has not won a race since 2018, when he claimed his last Grand Tour title at the Giro d’Italia . 

Froome has only missed two Tours de France in the last decade - the 2019 and 2020 editions - after he crashed into a wall in a course recon at the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné. He suffered fractures to his sternum, neck, femur, elbow and ribs, and also lost four pints of blood . 

Last year, he withdrew from the race in the third week with Covid.

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Tom joined Cycling Weekly as a news and features writer in the summer of 2022, having previously contributed as a freelancer. He is the host of The TT Podcast , which covers both the men's and women's pelotons and has featured a number of prominent British riders. 

An enthusiastic cyclist himself, Tom likes it most when the road goes uphill and actively seeks out double-figure gradients on his rides. 

He's also fluent in French and Spanish and holds a master's degree in International Journalism. 

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CHRIS FROOME SET TO RACE 2023 TOUR DE FRANCE

Four-time champion Chris Froome’s Israel Premier Tech team and Uno-X of Norway complete the line-up for this year’s Tour de France after organizers issued wild card invites to compete on Wednesday. The two wild cards aside, the other 20 teams (made up of eight riders apiece) automatically qualify with the 18 from the WorldTour and the two top-ranked teams in the second tier ProTeams which are Belgian outfit Lotto and TotalEnergies from France.

“Sometimes the choice is a tough one, however this time it is not,” race director Christian Prudhomme told reporters.

“A noticeable gap has grown between the top 22 teams and the others which is regrettable.

“Israėl Premier Tech won two stages on the last Tour de France. It is a team packed with experience and reinforced with the signing of Dylan Teuns.

“Uno-X is a more recent arrival with a strong identity due to only having Norwegian and Danish riders.

“They have signed a legend of Norwegian cycling Alexander Kristoff, and also have in their ranks the 2021 Tour de l’Avenir champion, Tobias Halland Johannessen.”

France has the biggest representation with five teams — one fewer than the three previous editions — Belgium has four with the Netherlands and United States having two each.

The race gets underway in Bilbao, Spain, on July 1 and finishes in Paris on July 23.

2023 Tour de France Teams

WorldTour: AG2R Citroen (FRA), Alpecin (BEL), Arkea-Samsic (FRA), Astana (KAZ), Bahrain (BRN), BikeExchange – Jayco (AUS), Bora (GER), Cofidis (FRA), DSM (NED), Education First (USA), Groupama-FDJ (FRA), Ineos (GBR), Intermarche (BEL), Jumbo (NED), Movistar (ESP), Quick-Step (BEL), Trek (USA), UAE (UAE)

PRO TEAMS: Lotto (BEL), TotalEnergies (FRA)

Invited: Israėl Tech (ISR), Uno-X (NOR)

RBA/AFP Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency

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VINGEGAARD NOT BOTHERED BY NEWFOUND PRESSURES

RIDERS REACT TO 2023 TOUR DE FRANCE PRESENTATION

2023 TOUR DE FRANCE ROUTE REVEALED

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Four-time winner Chris Froome not selected for 2023 Tour de France

The 38-year-old has been left out of the israel-premier tech squad but is targeting a return in 2024, article bookmarked.

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Chris Froome has been left out of the Israel-Premier Tech squad for next month’s Tour de France .

The four-time Tour winner, who has endured a number of mechanical and health problems this year, was missing on Friday when the team named their eight-man squad for the race, which starts in the Basque Country on July 1.

Froome, 38, has not won a race since suffering devastating injuries in a crash in 2019, but rode to an impressive third on stage 12 of last year’s Tour on the Alpe d’Huez as Tom Pidcock took victory.

This season he has been hampered by a number of issues, including several forced bike changes at the CIC-Mont Ventoux, but helped teammate Michael Woods to victory at La Route d’Occitanie last week.

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After being told the news, Froome released a statement via GCN targeting a return to the Tour next year.

“Physically I was ready, but unfortunately I was unable to show my full ability at the races assigned to me due to equipment issues,” Froome said.

“I respect the team’s decision and will take some time before refocusing on objectives later in the season and returning to the Tour de France in 2024.”

Simon Yates has been included in the Team Jayco-Alula squad, and will aim to add to his two Tour stage wins, both collected in 2019.

The 30-year-old Lancastrian - who skipped the Giro d’Italia this season for the first time in six years to focus on the Tour - was forced to withdraw from his last race, the Tour de Romandie in April, through illness but said he was feeling good ahead of the Tour.

“On paper it looks really good and a course that suits me quite well, so I’m really looking forward to this year’s edition,” he said.

“I always love racing in the Basque Country, so to be starting there is very special. The narrow roads, the steep climbs, the amazing Basque fans, I think it is going to be really memorable.

“We have a well-built team and clear objectives, for me of course the goals are in the mountains. I had a different build up to the Tour this year with less racing and more training and I have good sensations, so we will see.

“As we’ll be targeting sprint stages with Dylan (Groenewegen), it will be full-on for us with a dual approach and everyone is very excited to get started. It’s the Tour, everyone wants to be a part of it, and every edition I start, is a real privilege.”

The Tour begins next Saturday with a 182km stage that starts and finishes in Bilbao.

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Which British riders are riding the 2023 Tour de France?

Mathew Mitchell

• Published on June 27, 2023
• in Men's Cycling

British riders have made an indelible mark on the history of the Tour de France over the years. Their contributions began with Brian Robinson, who was the first British cyclist to finish the race in 1955 and claimed the first British stage victory two years later. However, it was not until the 21st century that Britain became a dominant force in the race. Starting with Bradley Wiggins’ historic overall victory in 2012, the first for a British rider, Team Sky (later rebranded as Ineos Grenadiers) went on to secure seven of the next nine editions of the Tour, with victories from Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas, and Egan Bernal.

Table of Contents

Froome, in particular, stands out with his four Tour de France titles . Mark Cavendish , often hailed as one of the greatest sprinters in the history of the sport, has also significantly contributed to Britain’s Tour de France success, matching the all-time record of 34 stage wins held by Eddy Merckx in 2021. British riders have demonstrated a wide range of prowess in the Tour de France, from sprinting to time-trialling and climbing, making them always ones to watch in the peloton.

British Riders in the 2023 Tour de France

• Mark Cavendish

So much attention is going to be on Mark Cavendish . After a stellar 2021 Tour de France with 4 stage wins, he wasn’t picked for last year’s edition. A change of teams in the off-season and here we are for the Brit’s final shot at the outright all-time Tour de France stage win record before retirement . Just 1 stage will do it and there will be bedlam if he manages to pull it off. There was a time when it looked inevitable only for a tough few years to rob the Manx Missile of opportunities before a glorious return to form.

Cavendish’s one and only win of the 2023 season to date came in May at the Giro d’Italia, where the 38-year-old won the final stage in Rome. He only needs a single similar opportunity to go top and ahead of Eddy Merckx in the all-time stage win ranking.

• Tom Pidcock

Surely everyone has now seen that video of the descent Tom Pidcock made last year on his way to a maiden Tour de France stage victory on Alpe d’Huez no less. The Brit flew down the Galibier as he hunted down the lead group. With nothing quite showing the generational change as well as dropping Chris Froome on its slopes. That generation of stars has had its time at the top.

The 2023 season has seen Pidcock claim victory on the Tuscan gravel at Strade Bianche, winning with a small gap there. 3rd at Amstel Gold Race and 2nd at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, albeit a long way behind the winner at both is a sign that as a one-day racer, Pidcock is up there. Expect to see some stage hunting and maybe a top-20 GC finish once more.

The first of the Yates twins to get a mention. Adam Yates has a solid if unspectacular history at the Tour de France where probably the most memorable moment is an inflatable gantry falling on top of him whilst looking certain for a stage win. That stage victory still illudes him but a trio of top-10 GC finishes are still very decent.

In this year’s race, he will be working for team leader Tadej Pogačar but there’s still a chance of adding to that number of top-10 GC finishes with a good rider. It’s tough to see that stage win happening but there’s always a chance.

• Simon Yates

A Grand Tour winner at the Vuelta a Espana and many stage wins and GC near-misses at the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France has always felt the weakest of the big 3 for Simon Yates. Unless his brother Adam, he does have a pair of Tour de France stage victories, however. They came just 4 days apart in the 2019 Tour de France. Unlike Adam however, Simon Yates has just 1 top-10 GC finish, with 7th back in 2017.

A good early part to the season included 4th at Paris Nice but the preparation was somewhat derailed by stomach issues at the Tour de Romandie that saw him abandon and Yates hasn’t raced since. That makes him a bit of a wildcard with where the form might be.

• Fred Wright

The new British road race champion! Wright finally took his first career pro win after so many close calls in a host of races up and down the prestige stakes. That includes last year’s Tour de France where Wright finished 2nd behind Mads Pedersen in a 3-up sprint into Saint Etienne. Now with the monkey off his back, we might see that maiden Grand Tour win and on the highest stage.

There have been many top-10 results in 2023, including the Tour of Flanders and recently at the Critérium Dauphiné. It would be a surprise if there wasn’t another here in his new British champion jersey.

An up and down career that first saw James Shaw make the WorldTour with Lotto Soudal at the age of 20 years old before slumping back to the Continental ranks after never quite establishing himself within the Belgian team. A strong year at Continental level saw him back to ProTeam level before Covid hit and another year back at Continental level in 2021. Finally, in 2022 Shaw returned to the WorldTour with EF Education-EasyPost and doesn’t appear to be looking back.

The 2023 Tour de France will be Shaw’s maiden edition and he will be in full-stage hunting mode. A useful finisher on tough hilly terrain, there was a decent enough GC performance at the Critérium Dauphiné and 2nd in GC at Coppi e Bartali too.

Finally, there’s Ineos Grenadiers’ Ben Turner. Another rider doing their first Tour de France in 2023, Turner has had an up-and-down 2023 so far because of injuries from crashes. He took his first pro career win at Vuelta Murcia, and almost matched it with 2nd at Jaen Paraiso before coming to an abrupt stop at Omloop het Nieuwsblad . There Turner broke his elbow but returned to fitness for the end of the Flandrian classics, only to break his forearm at the Tour of Flanders.

A different type of stage-hunting threat to teammate Tom Pidcock, we might see him get into breaks on flatter terrain and maybe have an outside shot at a stage win if he’s back to full form.

Which British riders are in the 2023 Tour de France?

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Chris Froome is hoping he can get back to the Tour de France

For most professional riders, an autumn trip to race in Hainan and visit your team's bike manufacturer's HQ in Taiwan might not be the most exciting prospect – principally an exercise in satisfying your team and sponsors at the end of a long season.

Yet for Chris Froome , the Tour of Hainan was a refreshing return to racing after two months away. The trip to Factor’s base in Taiwan, meanwhile, was not just a visit to a sponsor, but a chance to see the fruits of his own labour; Froome is an involved investor in Factor bikes, as well as riding their bikes in races.

Froome was passed over for this year's Tour de France , a race he has won four times. Bitterly disappointed , he instead took on the Czech Tour, where he failed to finish on the final stage. Since then, he hasn’t raced all summer.

In October, determined to go out of this season with a bang not a whimper, the 38-year-old headed to Asia to try his hand at the Tour of Hainan and the Japan Cup. These are lower-level races, especially for a Tour winner like Froome, but he hoped they’d give him a taste of positivity ahead of his 2024 campaign.

“The first couple of days I really struggled in the race,” Froome said of his time in Hainan, where an illness derailed his start. “But certainly through day three, four, five in the race, I just felt as if I was getting better and better and better.”

After a difficult season, it’s perhaps no surprise that Froome’s results on paper were nothing stand-out, but the Brit was emphatic about how much the experience had buoyed him mentally ahead of next season.

“Even though I came in a little bit sick into the race, I came out feeling super,” he explained. “I mean really just feeling five years younger again - wanting to go in the break, feeling energetic, feeling completely rejuvenated.

"This has given me a bit of newfound motivation I guess, in terms of thinking about next season and how I approach next year. I’ve got no expectations on myself, but at the same time, I would really like to get back to the pointy end of racing again, so that’s really given me that bit of hope now."

The power of bike set-up

What is behind Froome finally feeling good on a bike again? From the way he speaks, you might start to imagine a dramatic change in training, a new coach, a revitalised approach to racing. But no, the thing that made the difference for Chris Froome was as simple as a bike fit.

“In the earlier part of the season, I’ve been battling with a lot of lower back pain, before the Tour de France,” he said, referring to the problem that more than likely contributed to his non-selection for the biggest race on the calendar.

After the severe injuries Froome suffered in a career-changing crash in 2019, the Brit has been no stranger to pain and discomfort in the last few years as he tried to return to his old form, but it turns out that the most recent problem is not in fact a hangover from that crash.

“It led me to basically go and really double down on checking my bike set-up and my position and everything,” he said. “We did find some pretty big discrepancies between my current position at that time, and looking back at how I was sitting when I was racing for Sky and Ineos.”

Chris Froome in a position more akin to his old Team Sky posture

A tall and rangy rider with long arms and an upright form, Froome’s position on the bike isn’t particularly standard, which can make it harder to get right.

“That led me to go and make an appointment with a bike set-up specialist, to go and really check and see all the angles. Basically to get closer to and try and copy the position that I was sitting at previously when I was winning races, and I found that there was actually a really big difference in those two set-ups.

“We’ve made some big, big changes in terms of my position, but I am feeling much better now. And interestingly the back pain has just disappeared, so I think that was very much down to how I was sitting on the bike.”

Can a tweaked bike set-up change a rider’s trajectory? That remains to be seen, but it’s clear that for Froome, fixing that problem and riding pain-free for the first time in a long time has been a big boost.

Equipment matters: working closely with Factor

The specific work on Froome’s bike set-up is emblematic of a rider for whom equipment, bikes and technology are especially important. Not content to just climb onto the team bike provided and be done with it, Froome’s tenure at Israel-Premier Tech has seen him work closely with Factor, becoming a shareholder in the company and helping develop their race bikes.

Chris Froome visited the Factor factory in Taiwan

“For any professional bike rider, it's super important to be able to have that connection and relationship with the guys who are producing the bikes for you,” he said. “You always want to be involved, making it faster, making tweaks. Even just a few months into the relationship I knew I wanted to get more involved with these guys.”

The idea of a rider having involvement in the equipment they ride – particularly when you’re a seven-time Grand Tour winner – seems like it may be a given, but in fact, for Froome it was a marked change from his time working with Pinarello on Team Sky and Ineos.

Chris Froome is hands-on and involved with Factor

As well as feeling like he was listened to with his feedback, coming on board as a shareholder has given Froome even more input into his equipment, from small tweaks to redesigning the race bike’s handlebar set-up at his request.

“Having this channel, I feel I've got an amazing opportunity,” he said of his partnership with the brand. “Every bike rider wishes they could have a direct line to the factory to make changes happen.

"Within months of saying about the handlebars, I had a finished product in my hands, ready to test, not having to give feedback to one person and then chase it up and see if they've followed it up to someone else. I'm passionate about my equipment, I always have been, so the two just go together.”

It’s clear this is a partnership that works, both for Froome and for Factor, who get to have one of the biggest names in cycling in recent years riding its equipment and acting as an ambassador for the brand. Even when relations with Israel-Premier Tech have been less rosy, the relationships between Froome and his bike sponsor has stood out.

The final piece: motivation

Despite the positives of the end of 2023 going well, his back pain issue resolved, and Froome and Factor working closer together than ever, it’s not hard to forget that for Chris Froome, the last few years have not been successful. In the face of repeated setbacks, staying motivated has been a question of managing expectations.

“Since my big crash in 2019, anything from here in terms of achievements, objectives, I don’t want to set a limit on what I’m able to achieve," he said.

"I just want to get the best out of myself. I want to be able to look back once I’ve retired and say that I’ve given it everything, no regrets. Whether that means winning a bike race again and putting my arms in the air, or just helping my teammates, I’m good with that."

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Froome is still hoping to rediscover some form of old

Whilst the outside world may continue to judge the 38-year-old’s success purely on his results at the highest level – something he admits may not come back – his own outlook takes a wider perspective.

“I think a lot of people really understand - you’ve won all the biggest Grand Tours in cycling, how can you be happy just to be a team player? And I genuinely just love racing. I love racing, I love being in the team environment, whether that’s winning or not winning.

"Of course I enjoy when I’m able to win – every bike rider dreams of winning the biggest races, but even though I’m in a position where I’m not winning it doesn’t mean that I’m not enjoying myself and not happy and grateful to be here."

The one big hope he does have, though, is to make a return to the Tour de France, perhaps not to win it, but to be back at the race which has given him so much success during his career. It’s clear that even now, nine months away from the race, that it’s something that’s on his mind, and any thoughts about 2024 are also about how he builds towards that one race.

Whilst he admits team goals will ultimately decide what his place is in the team, the focus is there, with plans ready for a more strategic racing programme in the first half of the year.

"I think I can only really control where I can get to as a bike rider and the preparation that I can do before the Tour de France, to put myself in the best position to be chosen for the Tour next year,” he explained. “So I’m going to do everything I can.”

Israel-Premier Tech

• Nationality Israel
• Founded 2015
• Team Principal Kjell Carlström
• UCI Code IPT
• Bike Sponsor Factor

Chris Froome

• Team Israel-Premier Tech
• Nationality United Kingdom
• UCI Wins 48
• Height 1.86m

Factor bikes is a UK based high-performance frame brand which makes bikes built predominantly for racing.

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2023 Tour de France: A visual guide to cycling’s most challenging race

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the number of competing teams in the Tour de France. The correct number is 22.

The 110th edition of the Tour de France , the most challenging and best-known bicycle race in the world, starts July 1 in Bilbao, Spain, and ends 2,115 grueling and painful miles later on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris on July 23.

In France, the tour is more than a three-week race – it's a cultural phenomenon . Ten million to 12 million racing fans will line the roads of the course to cheer on 176 riders among 22 teams.

Around the world, millions will watch on broadcast TV or streaming services. 41.5 million viewed the 2022 race on the French public service broadcaster France Télévisions alone.

And while nearly 200 riders compete, only one will win.

The race: More than 2,100 miles in 21 days

The Tour de France is actually a collection of 21 single-day races, called stages, over 23 days. (Two rest days are built in.) The stages range from:

• Flat (8 stages): While the route is not always flat, racers usually ride together in a large group called a peloton . Flat stages end with riders breaking away by themselves or a large group sprinting together.
• Hilly (4 stages): Considered more arduous than a flat stage but less difficult than a mountain stage.
• Mountain (8 stages): First introduced in 1910, mountain stages are the most challenging. This year, riders will climb the 6,939-foot Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees.
• Time trial (1 stage): Individual riders race against the clock. The 2023 time trial is 13.7 miles. The other stages average to 105 miles, and the longest stage is 130 miles.

Tour route is different every year

The Tour de France has been held annually – except for war years – since 1903. While the format stays the same, the route changes every year, alternating between a clockwise and counterclockwise circuit of France.

It's designed by two men, Christian Prudhomme , a former TV journalist who is general director of the tour, and Thierry Gouvenou , a former pro racer who is the tour's race director. Prudhomme decides the general route and Gouvenou maps out details , linking towns and cities together.

The tour was confined to France in the early years but has expanded beyond French borders. The Grand Départ , the start of the race, was held outside France for the first time in 1954, in the Netherlands.

Other nations have hosted the Grand Départ, including the U.K. in 2007 and 2014.

Since 1975, the final stage has ended in Paris . In 2024, however, the race will finish in Nice .

Do women compete in the Tour de France?

Women have competed, but not directly with men and not over the same distances. Women have raced on smaller editions of the tour over the years, once in 1955 and again from 1984 to 1989. That series was canceled over financial problems.

Other equivalent events such as la Grande Boucle Féminin were held, but these did not last.

The women's tour was revived in 2022 with 144 women competing in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift , a smaller version of the men's event with 640 miles over eight days.

Femmes avec Zwift returns this year , with women riders racing eight days over a 594-mile course.

Which riders are favored to win this year?

The top three contenders according to Cycling News are:

How does a rider win the Tour de France?

The overall winner is the rider with lowest accrued time over the 21 stages of the race. It's possible to win the tour without winning a single stage – American rider Greg LeMond won in 1990 without a stage win. Roger Walkowiak of France won in 1956 without winning a stage.

Overall leaders wear a distinctive yellow jersey as long as they're in the lead. The jersey can be worn by a number of riders throughout the race. Its use was introduced in 1919.

There are also secondary honors, such as the award given to the rider who scores the most points, earned by finishing among the top 15 in a specific stage.

There's also the King of the Mountains award for the rider who gets the most points in categorized mountain climbs.

Domestiques are the tour's unsung heroes

Winning riders don't win by themselves. They get crucial support from teammates, called "domestiques," the French word for servants, who support the lead rider and the team overall.

Domestiques assist by:

• Bringing food and water to teammates.
• Helping leaders with flat tires and mechanical breakdowns, including giving top riders their own wheels or even bikes to continue the race.
• Riding in front of top riders to provide a windbreak.
• If a top rider falls behind, domestiques will lead him back to the pack.

The windbreak technique is called drafting, in which domestiques cut the wind ahead of the top rider. Cycling sources say the top rider conserves 15% to 40% of his energy in drafting.

Riding in front of the pack is exhausting. Domestiques often trade off places in front of the top rider.

How physically demanding is it?

The race is considered one of the most difficult athletic events in the world. Participants are:

Riders can be injured in collisions or crashes. Broken bones, concussions and dislocated shoulders are common.

What do the jersey colors signify?

Tour riders wear the distinctive uniforms of their teams, but you'll see four jerseys with special colors and significance.

Tour de France terms you should know

• Peloton: A French term meaning "group." It refers to the main pack of riders.
• Breakaway: One rider or a group of riders who have outdistanced the peloton.
• Attack: When a rider or riders race away from the group.
• Team leader: The best rider on the team.
• Time trial: A race against the clock.
• Rouleur: A steady rider with a consistent pace.
• Slipstream: The relatively still air behind a rider, used by followers to overcome air resistance.
• Drafting: Taking shelter in the slipstream of the rider ahead.
• Sag wagon: A vehicle that picks up riders who are no longer able to continue.

What do the riders win?

The tour says, "A total of  2.3 million euros  (about $2.5 million) will be awarded to the teams and riders including €500,000 (about $531,820) to the final winner of the overall individual classification."

Who are the legends of the Tour de France?

Past multiple winners include:

• Fausto Coppi | Italy, 1949, 1952
• Jacques Anquetil | France, 1957, 1961-64
• Eddy Merckx | Belgium, 1969-74
• Bernard Hinault | France, 1978-79, 1981-82, 1985
• Greg LeMond | U.S., 1986, 1989-90
• Miguel Indurain | Spain, 1991-95
• Chris Froome | Kenya, 2013, 2015-17

American Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France a record seven times from 1999 to 2005, but he was stripped of his victories by the International Cycling Union in 2012 over allegations of using illegal drugs. He admitted to years of performance-enhancing drug use to Oprah Winfrey in a televised interview. 

How to watch the Tour de France

Coverage of the 2023 Tour de France will be carried on :

• NBC Sports: Will broadcast select parts of race.
• Peacock : Will stream all race stages.
• USA Network: Will show condensed live coverage.

SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Associated Press; VeloNews; letour.com; bicycling.com; cyclingnews.com

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Froome reflects on racing vs. Pogačar, Vingegaard in his prime: 'It would have been interesting to have raced against them in my best years'

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Chris Froome reflected on his Tour de France career, and wondered how he would have fared against the likes of today’s superstars Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard at the peak of his powers.

The years are flying by, and Froome last won the final of his four yellow jerseys in 2017.

That year, Pogačar was racing as an unknown junior and Vingegaard was toiling anonymously as a fish-monger .

Speaking to Eurosport , Froome wondered out loud how he would have fared.

“It would have been really interesting to have raced against them in my best years,” Froome said. “It would have been interesting to see.”

At his prime, Froome and Team Sky ruled the Tour with ruthless efficiency across the decade of the 2010’s.

The once-mighty “Sky Train” plowed the opposition, and then set up Froome for high-voltage attack on the summits before drilling home the winning differences in the time trials.

Sound familiar?

Of the two between Pogačar and Vingegaard, the Dane is perhaps most similar to Froome in profile and racing style.

Backed by the “Killer Bees” at Visma-Lease a Bike, a team that can set the tempo Sky-style, Vingegaard packs the watts to drop everyone on the highest and steepest climbs, and then cements the gains against the clock.

In contrast, Pogačar races more aggressively , and he’s not afraid to uncork long-distance attacks to blow up a race. Sometimes that tactic can backfire against a disciplined and organized front, like it did in the Alps in 2022.

After the Slovenian barnstormed to back-to-back Tour titles, Vingegaard cracked the Pogačar code in 2022, and the Dane’s since won two in a row.

Froome, meanwhile, continues to be dogged by his brutal 2019 crash, and was overlooked for Tour selection by Israel Premier Tech last year.

Winning a 5th Tour ‘is always there as a dream’

How different is racing today from the Froome Era when he and Team Sky ruled the roads of France?

“It goes in waves. At the moment, it definitely seems to feel like a wave of the [Visma-Lease a Bike] team having won all the grand tours last year,” Froome said. “But cycling is a sport that’s always evolving, always changing, and there will always be new rivals coming up.”

Froome, 38, now freely admits that his days of swinging at the front of the bunch in the hunt for the yellow jersey are long gone.

Currently sidelined with a wrist injury from Tirreno-Adriatico, the Israel Premier Tech rider still holds out the dream of returning to the Tour, but he’s no longer expecting to beat up on the likes of Pogačar or Vingegaard.

“A fifth Tour de France for me is always there as a dream, but I think I’ve come to the reality now that returning to that level of really fighting for victory at the Tour de France is certainly going to be very, very difficult,” said Froome, who missed last year’s Tour selection.

“For me right now, I would just love to get back to the Tour de France,” he said. “Even if I’m there fighting in the mountains, potentially for another stage win, that would be amazing.”

One crash changed everything for Froome in 2019, and he’s seen other riders like Egan Bernal — who won the Tour in 2019 in what was the final yellow jersey in the Sky/Ineos Grenadiers domination — struggle to return to their best from equally devastating crashes.

“It definitely brought my grand tour challenging days to an end,” Froome said of his 2019 crash ahead of the Critérium du Dauphiné time trial. “I found it very difficult to come back to a competitive level.

“But on a more personal, human side, that crash took me months, if not even a full year, to try and recover from that. Just to learn to walk again, to walk normally without limping, took me over a year.

“It had a huge impact on me that crash,” Froome said. “It was really at the worst moment, just before the Tour de France. I was in fantastic shape, hoping to go and fight for the fifth victory at the Tour de France.”

‘I’m grateful to have a second chance’

Froome watched on in horror at the high-speed crash this month at Itzulia Basque Country that involved Tour de France favorites Remco Evenepoel, Primož Roglič, and Vingegaard, who are all recovering from a series of brutal injuries and face uncertain pathways toward the Tour.

“We’ve seen many serious accidents in the last weeks and months as well, where riders have broken several bones. Unfortunately, it’s a part of the sport,” Froome said. “But that’s life. That’s also part of the sport. It is a dangerous sport. These accidents do happen.

“[Mine] was a big crash, but I’m really glad to be back racing now and to have no pain. I feel extremely grateful to have another chance.”

Froome confirmed that he’s under contract with Israel Premier Tech through 2025, and dreams of returning to the Tour at least one more time.

Of the riders today, he said he’s most impressed with Pogačar.

“I think it’s very rare in this day and age to see one rider really dominating everything the way Eddy Merckx did back in his era,” he said.

“I think the sport’s just evolved so much and become so specific that it’s very hard for someone to be good over all types of terrain,” he said. “That’s one thing that Tadej Pogačar really impresses me in the sense that he’s able to win one-day classics like Flanders or Strade Bianche, and also be there challenging in the grand tours, so it’s very impressive.”

So who would have won in a showdown between the Sky Train and Froome at the peak of his powers versus today’s “Killer Bees” and Pogačar on a rampage?

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6 Reasons to Be Psyched About the 2024 Giro d’Italia

With an aggressive opening weekend, the return of Mortirolo, and chances for sprint battles, this year’s Giro will keep fans on the edge of their seats.

The route of the 2024 Giro was revealed last October, but it was quickly overshadowed by the announcement of the route for the 2024 Tour de France . That’s a typical issue for the Italian grand tour, a race that always seems to be fighting to emerge from its French cousin’s shadow.

But it shouldn’t be: the Giro is a fantastic event in its own right, a race that offers stunning scenery and aggressive racing, and often gives us a chance to see other riders steal the limelight. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be getting you ready for the Giro’s 107th edition, starting with six reasons why we’re excited about this year’s race.

1. An Aggressive Opening Weekend

Once upon a time, the opening weekend of a grand tour was more about fanfare than competition, often with a short individual time trial (usually called a “Prologue”) followed by a flat stage ending in a field sprint. In other words: stages that had little bearing on the race overall.

Don’t get us wrong: it can be fun to watch time trial specialists square off against GC contenders in a short ITT to determine the first rider to pull on a grand tour leader’s jersey. And who doesn’t love a good field sprint? But we want to see racing , with stages that don’t allow the overall contenders to hide in the bunch, stages like the two Basque stages at the beginning of last year’s Tour de France.

Well, this year’s Giro seems to have taken a page out of last year’s Tour de France racebook, with a 143-kilometer opening stage from Venaria Reale to Turin that brings the riders over three categorized climbs, including the Category 2 Colle de Maddalena less than 25 km from the finish line—which the riders will hit just a few kilometers after cresting a punchy, uncategorized ascent just outside the city. Expect an exciting race to win the Giro’s first maglia rosa (the “pink jersey” awarded each day to the Giro’s overall leader), but time gaps that won’t kill anyone’s GC hopes on the first day of the race.

The next day could be a different story though, when a 161-kilometer stage from San Francesco al Campo to the Santuario di Oropa ends with the Giro’s first summit finish, an 11.8-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 6.2 percent. The ascent to Oropa is this year’s “Cima Pantani,” an ascent designated to honor Marco Pantani , the deceased Italian superstar who famously won a stage here in 1999.

This isn’t the hardest climb in the Giro by any means, but given that it’s only Stage 2, it will start shuffling the general classification. And given one of the riders expected to be competing this year (more on that later), this could prove to be an especially impactful opening weekend.

2. Reasonable Stage Lengths

In recent years, riders have become increasingly critical of the Giro’s organizers for including too many long stages—and even longer transfers from the finish of one stage to the start of another (which means riders are on buses for sometimes two to three hours before getting to their hotels at the end of the day). That might not seem like a big deal for fans watching the race from the comfort of their couches, but how do you like it when your boss extends your workday without considering you first? What if the length of your commute was suddenly doubled or tripled?

Well, the organizers listened, and this is the shortest Giro in years, with an average stage length that’s 12.5 km shorter than it was five years ago. Even better, there are fewer super-long stages. For example, in 2019, there were eleven stages over 190 km, and eight of them went over 200 km. This year’s race has just four stages over 190 km and only one of them comes during the Giro’s final week, which is traditionally the hardest of the race.

That’s great for the riders, but it’s also a boon for fans, who have annually been “treated” to at least one or two Giro stages in which a large breakaway gets a huge lead on an otherwise disinterested peloton—or worse, stages in which the entire peloton decides to ride piano until the final hour, at which point they wind things up for an eventual field sprint. Stages like these are the cycling equivalent of watching paint dry.

Shorter stages produce more aggressive racing, and shorter transfers mean happier, better-recovered riders—which also means better racing. With shorter stages and more reasonable transfers, we’re expecting this to be one of the most exciting Giros–from start to finish–in years.

3. A Surprising Feast for Sprinters

A race known more for its mountains, the Giro rarely attracts large numbers of sprinters—at least not as many as the Tour de France usually does. But with eight stages expected to end in field sprints this year—and a particularly mountainous route at the Tour de France—the 2024 Giro d’Italia is shaping up to be one of the more sprint- and sprinter-heavy grand tours in the past few years.

Here’s an early look at the list of sprinters expected to take the start in Torino: Italy’s Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek); Belgium’s Tim Merlier (Soudal–Quick Step) and Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty); Dutch sprinters Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Fabio Jakobsen (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), and Australia’s Sam Welsford (Bora-Hansgrohe), Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla) and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck). That’s a deep line-up, and it should produce some of the most exciting field sprints of the season.

The Giro d’Italia has always embraced gravel roads. In 2005, the organizers took the race up and over the Colle delle Finistre, a climb in the Italian Alps that’s famous for an eight-kilometer section of gravel approaching the summit of the pass. The Giro has included the climb four three since 2005, most famously during Stage 19 in 2018 when Great Britain’s Chris Froome went on an 86K solo raid, overcoming a 3:22 deficit to take the maglia rosa . He won his first and only Giro in Rome two days later.

In 2010, the Giro was one of the first grand tours in the modern era to introduce gravel roads on a non-mountain stage when the organizers took a page out of the Strade Bianche road race and included several sections of white gravel roads near the end of Stage 7, a 220-kilometer ride from Carrara to Montalcino. Australia’s Cadel Evans won the stage; the former mountain biker seemed at home on the white gravel roads, which had turned brown due to heavy rain.

This year’s race won’t go over the Finistere (yeah, we’re bummed too), but it will bring the riders over about 12 km of punchy, gravel roads during the second half of Stage 6. The 177-kilometer stage from Viareggio to Rapolano Terme comes just before the Giro’s first time trial, and should present a perfect opportunity for an ambush, possibly by a rider who doesn’t fancy his chances in the next day’s race against the clock.

5. Lots of Mountains

It’s the mountains that keep everyone coming back to the Giro d’Italia (or, in the case of a few of the riders, staying away). This year’s race is no different, with 42,900 meters of elevation gain over the course of the Giro’s 21 stages and seven uphill finishes (including the climb at the end of Stage 7’s ITT). That’s a lot of climbing, and the organizers, as always, have included some of the most famous ascents in Giro’s history.

We’ve already mentioned the Oropa—this year’s Cima Pantani—at the end of the Stage 2, but that’s not the only summit finish of the first week. After Stage 7’s uphill ITT finish there’s another summit finish on Stage 8, on the Category 1 climb to Prati di Tivo, a 14-kilometer ascent with an average gradient of 7 percent. Expect these two stages to determine which rider will wear the maglia rosa heading into the Giro’s first rest day.

The second week begins with a new summit finish on Stage 10, the Category 1 Bocca della Selva, a 20.9K climb with an average gradient of just 4.6 percent. But that’s misleading: for some reason, the “official” climb begins with over 3 km of downhill roads, which lowers the average gradient overall.

The second week ends with Stage 15, which might be the hardest in this year’s Giro. Originally slated to bring the race into Switzerland for a hot sec, the route of this 220-kilometer stage has been altered to keep the race in Italy. That’s bad news for the riders, as they now will face the Mortirolo—one of the hardest and most famous climbs in Giro history—two-thirds of the way through the stage. The day ends with back-to-back Category 1 ascents: the Passo di Foscagno and—after a very short descent—the final climb to the Mottolino ski resort above Livigno, a steep, 8-kilometer climb with pitches that hit 18 percent. Thank goodness the next day is a rest day!

But after the second Rest Day, the riders won’t have a chance to ease themselves back into action, as Stage 16—another stage over 200 km—begins with an ascent of the Stelvio (20.2 km at 7.2 percent). Topping out at 2,758 meters, this is the highest climb in the entire Giro, and the first rider over the summit will win the Cima Coppi prize for being the first to the top. There’s a long ride from the top of the pass down into the valley, but two hard climbs at the end of the stage will settle things once and for all.

Stage 18 takes the race into the Dolomites on a 159-kilometer route containing five categorized climbs, including ascents of both sides of the Passo Brocon, with a summit finish on the steeper side of the mountain. And just for good measure, Stage 20 heads back into the Dolomites, where the riders will climb the Monte Grappa (18.1 km at 8.1 percent) twice. This one doesn’t end with a summit finish, but after 20 days of racing and at the end of another ferocious final week, this stage should blow the peloton apart. At the end of the day, we’ll know the eventual winner of the 2024 Giro d’Italia.

6. Pog Goes for Pink

But by far, the biggest marquee rider on this year’s start list has to be Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). Perhaps the most exciting rider in the entire men’s peloton, Pog can win it all: grand tours, cobbled classics, and week-long stage races. He’s the most complete and multi-faceted male rider we’ve seen in decades, and this year—for the first time in his career—he’s heading to Giro.

Yup, that’s right. The 25-year-old has made it a career goal to win every major race on the calendar. For example, the two-time Tour de France champion took a dominant victory in last year’s Tour of Flanders , a cobbled Monument that grand tour riders usually avoid. And in March, he stated his desire to win all seven of the sport’s major week-long stage races (he’s already won three of them).

This is a far cry from just a decade or two ago when riders rode super-specific programs, often only targeting one or two major events each season. This was especially the case with riders targeting the Tour de France. These riders cared less about winning as many races as possible and more about building fitness for the Tour de France—without crashing or getting sick (which, as recent events have shown us, is a delicate balance).

But we’re talking about Tadej Pogačar, a rider who cares more about winning as many races as he can than winning one or two races as many times as he can. And at 25, he can race a diverse program right now and still decide to specialize a few years from now.

Given the way he’s riding—having raced nine times this season and only finishing off the podium twice, and doing so with no real challengers—he could blow the doors of the Giro by the end of the first week. And that might be a good thing: in addition to winning the Giro, Pog also wants to become the first rider since Pantani to win the Giro and the Tour in the same season.

Jumping out to an early, insurmountable lead would allow Pogačar to sit back and ride defensively, possibly saving him important matches in what has suddenly become (after the recent crash at the Itzulia Basque Country ) a rather winnable Tour de France for someone having already raced the Giro. Now, that would be historic!

.css-1t6om3g:before{width:1.75rem;height:1.75rem;margin:0 0.625rem -0.125rem 0;content:'';display:inline-block;-webkit-background-size:1.25rem;background-size:1.25rem;background-color:#F8D811;color:#000;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-position:center;background-position:center;}.loaded .css-1t6om3g:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/bicycling/static/images/chevron-design-element.c42d609.svg);} 2024 Giro d'Italia

2024 Giro d’Italia | Van Aert Is Officially Out

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Chris Froome: The Tour de France remains the ultimate goal

If selection confirmed, multiple former overall winner would aim for stages

Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) continues to see top performances in the  Tour de France as his over-riding goal and - assuming he is selected - the Briton would aim for stage wins.

Speaking to French specialist website DirectVelo during the recent Route d'Occitanie, won by teammate Mike Woods , Froome said that he had some minor physical challenges in the first months of the year, with one tendon playing up seriously in April.

However, after opting to skip the Volta a Cataluña and Tour of the Alps as a result, Froome then returned to racing at the Tour de Romandie.

“I’ve been improving little by little," he said. “The last six-seven weeks have been going well in training, I’ve worked well and without any problems. Things seem to be going in the right direction.”

Chris Froome headlines CIC Ventoux climbing challenge Israel Premier-Tech’s Field of Dreams project sparks electrification for hundreds of Rwandan families 'It would be massive to win a race in 2023, any race' - Chris Froome interview

At the Route d'Occitanie, Froome finished 40th overall after working for teammate and repeat outright winner Mike Woods. “Stage 1 was stressful," he told DirectVelo . "We needed all our strength to help our leaders and notably Corbin [Strong], whom we hoped to see win the stage.

“We had five guys up there in a front group of 25, it was a really nice collective performance."

Regarding the Tour de France, Israel-Premier Tech are expected to release their line-up at the end of this week.

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However, the Briton seemed confident of his chances that he would be one of the eight riders selected, telling DirectVelo he would go to the Tour to try to win a stage: “That’s what motivates me.”

“The Tour remains the ultimate goal,” Froome continued. “It’s the race in which I’ve had my nicest feelings, where all the best riders in the world compete in their best form.

“Obviously I’m not going to go to the Tour to fight for the overall, but if I can try to go for a stage win, that would be great.”

Froome cited the case of Alpe d’Huez last year, where he finished third after taking part in the breakaway, as a case in point.

The 2023 Tour de France starts on July 1 in Bilbao.

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Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews , he has also written for The Independent ,  The Guardian ,  ProCycling , The Express and Reuters .

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TRENDING NOW

Team gb cyclist chris froome's wife says 'there are no innocent gazans' in social media tirade.

The wife of former Team Great Britain Olympic-winning cyclist Chris Froome caused online outrage as she claimed there were “no innocent Gazans” and called Muslims a “drain on society” in a social media outburst earlier this week.

Michelle Froome, who is also the four-time Tour de France-winning cyclist’s manager and agent, then deleted her entire X account after launching the tirade against Palestinians and Muslims .

However, a day later, she reactivated her X account and began deleting the posts, before protecting her account from public viewing.

Despite this, screenshots of her rant have been widely shared on social platforms.

Froome first wrote she was “sick of sitting idly by quietly supporting Israel while the Hamas propaganda takes over social media”, before launching into another diatribe.

"Women’s rights matter! Gay rights matter! Trans rights matter! Hamas doesn’t support any of those. Take the blindfolds off and see the reality of the hatred they are spreading. There are no innocent Gazans," she wrote.

Froome then rounded on Muslims in general, asserting they wanted to "take over".

"The silent majority needs to stand up and be heard. We don’t want your religion, we don’t want your beliefs. It is not compatible with modern civilisation," she wrote.

UK Islamophobia: Anti-Muslim bigotry 'soars due to Gaza War'

"Muslims are no longer the minority they claim to be. They are here to take over. The UK, France, they are happy to claim the benefits but will not integrate into those communities … They are a drain on modern society."

She went on to insult the Prophet Muhammad and continued her attacks on Islam, Palestinians and pro-Palestine activists.

Froome’s social media outbursts were allegedly inspired by protests against her husband’s cycling team, Israel-Premier Tech, which is owned by Israeli billionaires Sylvan Adams and Ron Barron.

The team, which is not connected to the Israeli government, distanced itself from her comments in a statement to cycling magazine road.cc .

Pro-Palestine protesters have called for “more protests than ever” against the team and plan to hold demonstrations at upcoming prestigious cycling events.  

Earlier this month, the official Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) site posted a call for demonstrations titled "Road Closed to Genocide." The statement claimed that famous cycling races were "shamefully rewarding" Israel and helping it "sportswash its gravest crimes" by allowing Israel-Premier Tech to compete.

"There are no innocent Gazans", says @michellefroome , wife of UK Olympic winning cyclist @chrisfroome , going full blown depraved, unhinged, dehumanising racist. The levels of dehumanisation of Palestinians in Gaza to justify Israel's genocide against them are constant. pic.twitter.com/KJbD16bwkv — Joseph Willits (@josephwillits) April 16, 2024

‘Dehumanising racist’

Froome’s comments prompted a flurry of outrage on X.

Joseph Willits, Head of Parliamentary Affairs at the Council of British-Arab Understanding, wrote of Froome’s comments that it was the "wife of UK Olympic winning cyclist @chrisfroome, going full blown depraved, unhinged, dehumanising racist".

"The levels of dehumanisation of Palestinians in Gaza to justify Israel's genocide against them are constant," he added.

Other  users  wrote that her tweets mimicked the ‘Great Replacement Theory’ supported by many far-right groups and individuals.

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• Gaza War 2023-2024

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Chris Froome facing 'year of truth' in 2023 as injury comeback continues amid Israel-PremierTech relegation

Updated 08/11/2022 at 14:18 GMT

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome made some forward steps this season as he looks to get back to the top level following serious injuries suffered at the 2019 Criterium du Dauphine. Froome, 37, is hopeful that with a sustained period of riding he will be able to improve further but acknowledges the upcoming year could be a make-or-break period for him.

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14/07/2023 at 07:10

‘Liège-Bastogne-Liège changed my cycling life’ - Wout Poels takes new road to Monument via Tour of the Alps

Wout Poels will be one of a handful of former winners at this year’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, but the Bahrain Victorious rider is taking a new approach to the final Classic of the spring.

The Dutchman has taken inspiration from teammate and podium-finisher in 2023, Santiago Buitrago, by completing five days of preparation for Liège-Bastogne-Liège at the Tour of the Alps before taking on Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

The now-veteran, 36-year-old Poels will make his 11th start at La Doyenne on Sunday, eight years after he took the biggest win of his career in a reduced-group sprint ahead of Michael Albasini and Rui Costa while riding for Team Sky.

He has often completed the Ardennes races as a trio of races but after his Colombian teammate found great form with third in 2023 after racing in South Tyrol and Trentino, Poels has opted to follow suit.

He has not taken a top 10 at Liège-Bastogne-Liège since 2019 but hopes that will change on Sunday, after flying to Belgium from Italy after the Tour of the Alps ends on Friday. 

“I hope it's a good prep but it's all gonna be very tight and it's a little bit of a gamble for myself but we will see. Last year it worked pretty well with Santi [Buitrago] so hopefully, it will work well for me also,” Poels told Cyclingnews.

“It’s always nice to go back, Liège-Bastogne-Liège changed my cycling life of course.” 

Poels’ only Monument triumph came amid his stint as one of the super domestiques at Team Sky who worked tirelessly to help Chris Froome take four Tour de France titles. 

Pinned to his Instagram page is the post from that day in 2016 with the caption “So this was really not a dream…”

It will of course be a tough ask to beat the modern-day superstars of professional cycling but Poels knows just what it takes on those brutally long days in the saddle.

Despite riding a tough wet stage in Austria on Wednesday, Poels joked he wasn’t too eager to get back to racing in Wallonia after seeing the hellishly cold conditions that saw only 44 men finish Flèche Wallonne.

“To win a Monument is really nice to have behind your name so for sure that race is always pretty special,” Poels said.

“But hopefully, the weather is better than Wednesday in Fleche, it was looking really cold.”

If Buitrago’s performance from last year is anything to go off, Poels is well on track to perform at Liège. The Colombian was eighth overall at the Tour of the Alps in 2023 while the Dutchman currently sits equal-third, 48 seconds off the lead of Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek) after the Spaniard won stage 3.

He’s also been working for young Italian Antonio Tiberi, with his teammate also 48 seconds off the lead. They’ll have one more chance on Friday to try to snatch the overall victory.

After racing Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Poels will begin his final preparations for the Giro d’Italia, where he will be chasing a stage win to complete the illustrious Grand Tour set after his breakaway successes from the Tour de France and Vuelta a España in 2023. 

Poels took two of the finest breakaway wins of the season in 2023, beating Belgian superstars Wout van Aert (Visam-Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) on the summit finish to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc at the Tour de France and then the reduced-group sprint to Guadarrama at the Vuelta a España.

He’s a changed rider after swapping his domestique role at Team Sky to follow his own ambitions at Bahrain-Victorious in 2019, but it wasn’t an immediate transition into winning for the Dutchman with a three-year win-drought only coming to an end at the Ruta del Sol in 2022.

“Last year was amazing of course with the Tour and the Vuelta and that was a little bit of the reason why I changed teams,” Poels admitted. 

“It took four years to achieve that but it's super nice to have. Of course this year the big goal is going to be at the Giro to have a stage in all three Grand Tours and I think we’re really good on track for that.”