128 Facts About Chris Froome

Chris Froome has won seven Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de France, one Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana twice.

Chris Froome has won several other stage races, and the Velo d'Or three times.

Chris Froome was born in Kenya to British parents and grew up there and in South Africa.

At the age of 22, Chris Froome turned professional with Team Konica Minolta.

Chris Froome made his breakthrough as a Grand Tour contender during the 2011 Vuelta a Espana 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, Chris Froome won stage seven and finished second overall, behind Wiggins.

Chris Froome's first recognised multi-stage race win came in 2013, in the Tour of Oman, followed by wins in the Criterium International, the Tour de Romandie, the Criterium du Dauphine, and the Tour de France.

Chris Froome won a third Tour de France in 2016 and became the first man since Miguel Indurain in 1995 to successfully defend his title.

Chris Froome won his fourth Tour de France in 2017, followed by successive wins at the 2017 Vuelta a Espana and the 2018 Giro d'Italia, his first victories in both races.

Chris Froome 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.

Chris Froome's most notable Grand Tour accomplishment post-accident was a 3rd-place finish on the Alpe d'Huez stage of the 2022 Tour de France.

Chris Froome was in the top 30 overall on general classification when forced to pull out by illness.

Chris Froome was born on 20 May 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya, the youngest of three boys to mother Jane and English father Clive, a former field hockey player who represented England at under-19 level.

When Chris Froome was 13, his mother took him to his first organised bike race, a charity race that he won despite being knocked from his bike by his mother.

Chris Froome attended St John's alongside South African-born Scott Spedding, who went on to a professional rugby union career including playing internationally for France.

Chris Froome then studied economics for two years at the University of Johannesburg.

In South Africa Chris Froome started to participate in road cycling.

Chris Froome started road racing in South Africa, specialising as a climber.

Chris Froome turned professional in 2007, aged 22, with the South African team, Konica Minolta, withdrawing from university two years into his degree in economics.

Chris Froome was introduced to the South African-backed, second-tier UCI Professional Continental team, Barloworld, by South African Robbie Hunter, signing with them for the 2008 season.

In May 2008, Chris Froome switched from a Kenyan licence to a British licence, to have a chance of riding in the 2008 Summer Olympics, where Kenya did not qualify.

Chris Froome then participated in the Giro d'Italia, in which he came 36th overall, and seventh young rider classification.

Chris Froome had been dropped by the gruppetto, and intended to reach the feed zone and retire from the race.

Chris Froome finished second at the 2010 national time trial championships.

Chris Froome had a mixed Tour de Suisse, riding with the lead group on some mountain stages yet losing time on others, and finishing ninth in the final time trial, and 47th in the general classification.

Chris Froome continued his season at the Brixia Tour where he finished 45th in the general classification, and the Tour de Pologne, finishing 85th.

Chris Froome finished in fourth place, forty-eight seconds behind Cobo, and retained his second place in the overall strandings.

Chris Froome was unable to reduce Cobo's lead any further and initially was placed second overall in the Vuelta.

On 17 July 2019, Chris Froome was declared the winner of the race following the disqualification of Cobo for drug offences.

Chris Froome was initially close to being dropped by the team at the end of the season, and Sky's team manager Dave Brailsford had been in talks with Team RadioShack's manager Johan Bruyneel offering a trade, but Brunyeel had turned down the offer saying 'I want a cyclist, not a donkey'.

Five days after the race's finish in Madrid, Chris Froome signed a new three-year contract with Sky.

Later that year, it was revealed Chris Froome had suffered throughout the year from the parasitic disease schistosomiasis, after having picked up the disease during a visit to Kenya in 2010.

The discovery and subsequent treatment of the illness has been used to explain Chris Froome's rapid rise in form during 2011.

Chris Froome was part of the Great Britain team that helped Mark Cavendish win the world road race championship.

Chris Froome withdrew from the Volta ao Algarve with a severe chest infection, and blood tests showed the schistosoma parasites were still in his system.

Chris Froome was selected for the Sky squad for the Tour de France.

Cadel Evans attacked, Chris Froome jumped on his wheel and won the stage with an advantage of two seconds over his leader and Evans.

Chris Froome finished second to Wiggins on stage nine, an individual time trial, and moved up to third overall.

Chris Froome subsequently received the order from his team manager to hold back and wait for yellow jersey Wiggins.

On stage nineteen, a time trial, Chris Froome finished second to Wiggins, mirroring the overall standings.

Wiggins went on to win the tour with Chris Froome second, becoming the first two British riders to make the podium of the Tour de France in its 109-year history.

Chris Froome won bronze in the time trial, with teammate Wiggins taking gold.

Chris Froome was selected as Team Sky's leader for the Vuelta a Espana, where he aimed to go one better than 2011 and win his first Grand Tour.

Chris Froome lay third after the first mountain finish on stage three, and moved up to second on stage four after leader Alejandro Valverde crashed, losing 55 seconds to the chasing group.

Chris Froome moved down to third during the stage-eleven time trial sixteen seconds off leader Rodriguez.

Chris Froome lost another twenty-three seconds on stage twelve, putting him 51 seconds down.

Chris Froome struggled through the rest of the second half of the race.

Chris Froome ended up fourth overall, finishing over ten minutes behind the race winner, Alberto Contador.

Chris Froome then won the following stage to extend his lead, out-sprinting Contador and Rodriguez.

Chris Froome finished the race taking the overall classification, his first stage race win of his career, 27 seconds ahead of Contador, with Cadel Evans twelve seconds further back.

Chris Froome lost time on eventual winner Nibali on the penultimate stage, finishing the race in second place.

Chris Froome returned to action, and to the top step of the rostrum, in the Criterium International.

Chris Froome remained in the yellow leader's jersey throughout the entire race, increasing his advantage over his rivals to almost a minute with a strong performance in the penultimate queen stage.

Chris Froome won stage five after countering a late attack by Contador, to take the race lead by 52 seconds over teammate Porte.

Chris Froome helped Porte solidify his second place on stage seven, and on stage eight the pair rode away from their rivals on the final climb, with only Talansky able to follow.

Chris Froome's winning margin on the stage was 51 seconds over Porte, and 85 seconds to Valverde in third.

Chris Froome then finished second in the individual time trial on the twelfth stage, twelve seconds behind Tony Martin, to put further time into all of his rivals.

Chris Froome defended his lead during the Alpine stages, extending his overall lead as Mollema and Contador dropped back.

Chris Froome was King of the Mountains for six stages; however, he ultimately finished second to Quintana in that classification.

Chris Froome insisted that he and his team were clean and stated that the questioning saddened him.

Chris Froome was drug tested during the Tour and Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford offered the World Anti-Doping Agency all performance data they had on Chris Froome as evidence.

Chris Froome crashed out on the fifth stage of the Tour de France after falling three times over two days, putting an end to his defence of his Tour de France crown.

Chris Froome came back in time to duel with Alberto Contador on the Vuelta a Espana.

Chris Froome lost time on the first individual time trial.

Chris Froome was joined there by Contador, both riders competing in this race for the first time.

Now 27 seconds behind Contador, with only one mountain stage remaining, Chris Froome seemed likely to end up second.

Chris Froome won the stage and was able to open a 29-second gap on second-place Contador by the finish line, enough to overcome his deficit and take the overall race lead by two seconds.

The final fifth stage was relatively flat, with no likely chance for Contador to make up his deficit, allowing Chris Froome to collect his first stage race victory since May 2014.

Chris Froome participated in the La Fleche Wallonne but crashed badly, remounted and finished 123rd, at 12:19.

Chris Froome later participated in the Tour de Romandie in hopes of winning it for the third year in a row, but had to settle for third place in the general classification after winner Ilnur Zakarin and second-place Simon Spilak, both of Team Katusha.

Chris Froome won stage seven, the queen stage, thanks to two consecutive attacks on the last climb of the day, one to shed the leading group and another one to get rid of Tejay van Garderen, who had resisted the first one.

Chris Froome entered the Tour de France as one of the favourites for the overall win.

Chris Froome maintained his lead during the final week's Alpine mountain stages, although he lost 32 seconds to Quintana, who had emerged as his principal rival, on the penultimate mountain stage to La Toussuire, and another 86 seconds on the final summit finish on Alpe d'Huez, giving him a lead of 72 seconds over Quintana in the general classification.

Chris Froome lost time on his rivals on the first summit finishes, though he gained back some time on the summit finish of stage nine.

Stage eleven was a mountainous stage in Andorra that Chris Froome had described as "the toughest Grand Tour stage I've ever done".

Chris Froome crashed into a wooden barrier on the approach to the first climb of the day; he continued to the end of the stage, though he lost significant time on all his rivals.

Chris Froome was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to cycling.

Chris Froome started the season early, competing in the 2016 Herald Sun Tour in Australia.

Chris Froome subsequently competed at the Tour de Romandie, which brought mixed results.

On Stage 8 of the 2016 Tour de France, Chris Froome attacked on the descent of the Col de Peyresourde and held off the leading group of GC contenders to take a solo victory in Bagneres-de-Luchon.

On Stage 12, on the ascent up Mont Ventoux, Chris Froome collided with Richie Porte and Bauke Mollema and a motorbike after spectators on the road forced the motorbike to stop.

Porte and Mollema continued riding, while Chris Froome ditched his bike and continued on foot until receiving a replacement bike from his team car.

Chris Froome finished the race 1 minute and 40 seconds behind Mollema, but was awarded the same time as Mollema after a jury decision, and retained the yellow jersey.

Chris Froome followed with good results in both of the individual time trials with a second-place finish on stage 13 and winning stage 18.

Chris Froome went on to claim his third Tour de France victory on 24 July 2016 and became Britain's first-ever three-time winner of the race.

Chris Froome followed his Tour win with a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, during the Men's Time Trial event, repeating his bronze medal success from London 2012.

However, Chris Froome gained back time lost in a victory on the stage 19 individual time trial to Calp.

Chris Froome finished the Vuelta in second overall, 1:23 back of race winner Quintana.

Chris Froome won his fourth Tour de France title on 23 July 2017.

On stage 3 Chris Froome attacked up the final climb with only Esteban Chaves able to follow him.

Chris Froome finished 3rd and the bonus seconds at the line plus those he picked up at the intermediate sprint were enough to see him take the red jersey for the first time since 2011.

Chris Froome went on to win stage 9 at Cumbre del Sol, taking the lead in the points classification in the process.

Chris Froome then competed at the 2017 UCI Road World Championships in Bergen only about a week after his Vuelta victory and won two bronze medals: one in the men's team time trial with Team Sky, the other in the men's individual time trial for Great Britain.

On 13 December 2017, the UCI announced that Chris Froome had returned an "Adverse Analytical Finding" for almost twice his allowed dose of salbutamol, an asthma medication.

Subsequently, Chris Froome took much of the off-season contacting experts and reading reports on the situation.

Chris Froome's case has been widely criticised by fellow cyclists and in January 2018 UCI president David Lappartient recommended that he was suspended by Team Sky until his case was resolved.

On 2 July 2018, the UCI officially closed the investigation into Chris Froome, stating that the rider had supplied sufficient evidence to suggest that "Mr Chris Froome's sample results do not constitute an AAF".

On 29 November 2017, Chris Froome announced that he intended to participate in the 2018 Giro d'Italia in an attempt to complete the Giro-Tour double, marking his first start in the race since 2010.

On 5 February 2018, Chris Froome announced he would start his season with an entry into the Vuelta a Andalucia, despite calls for him not to race until his case was resolved.

Chris Froome entered the 2018 Giro d'Italia as one of the favourites to take the overall victory in Rome at the end of May Once at the start of the Giro d'Italia, he was he would be cleared of his offences.

However, before the race could even begin Chris Froome crashed whilst performing a recon of the opening time trial in Jerusalem.

Chris Froome finished the time trial in 21st place, ceding 35 seconds to overall rival Tom Dumoulin.

On stage 8, Chris Froome fell on his injured side when his rear wheel slid on a wet climb.

However, on the final climb of the following stage to Sappada Chris Froome cracked, yielding more than a minute to the other main general classification contenders.

Chris Froome's advantage grew throughout the second half of the stage, culminating in him taking the stage honours.

Importantly, a stage victory of more than three minutes which included picking up three bonus seconds at the second intermediate sprint in Pragelato resulted in Chris Froome taking the overall race lead, 40 seconds ahead of the 2017 Giro d'Italia victor, Tom Dumoulin.

Chris Froome held on to the maglia rosa on the final 'true' day of racing for the GC, neutralizing several attacks by Dumoulin in the final kilometers before launching a counter-attack of his own, putting an additional 6 seconds into his rival at the finish line at Breuil-Cervinia.

Chris Froome took victory in the 2018 Giro d'Italia making him the first British rider to win the overall title, the first rider since 1983 to hold all three Grand Tour titles simultaneously, as well as becoming the seventh man to have completed the career Grand Tour grand slam.

Chris Froome then went into the 2018 Tour de France as one of the main favorites for victory despite the mostly negative reactions from some fans.

Thanks to his performance in the penultimate day time trial to Espelette, Chris Froome finished third overall behind Thomas.

On 1 January 2019, Chris Froome announced that he would not be defending his title at the Giro d'Italia, instead focusing on the 2019 Tour de France with the aim of winning the race for the fifth time.

Chris Froome completed the Tour of the Alps and the Tour de Yorkshire prior to returning to the Criterium du Dauphine.

On 12 June 2019, Chris Froome was hospitalised with a fractured right femur, a fractured elbow, and fractured ribs, after a high-speed crash into a wall while training for the 4th stage of the Criterium du Dauphine.

Chris Froome spoke for the first time on 3 August 2019 in an interview about the incident and the recovery process.

On 10 September 2019, almost 3 months into his recovery, Chris Froome was confirmed to participate in the 7th edition of the Saitama Criterium, and on 29 September 2019 posted to social media that he was back training on the road.

Later that day, Chris Froome signed a "long-term" contract with Israel Start-Up Nation from the 2021 season.

Chris Froome had been training and working on further rehabilitation in southern California in preparation for the 2021 season.

Chris Froome was selected for the Tour de France, his first appearance at the race since 2018, but Israel Start-Up Nation named Michael Woods as team leader.

Chris Froome sustained injuries on the opening stage but continued on, eventually completing the race in 133rd overall.

Chris Froome made his 2022 debut at the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali after a knee tendon inflammation.

Chris Froome signed in at the podium on stage 18, but did not start because a second Covid test came back positive.

Chris Froome met Michelle Cound, a South African of Welsh origin, through South African rider Daryl Impey in 2009.

Chris Froome dedicated his 2013 Tour de France win to his mother, who died of cancer five weeks before his Tour debut in 2008.

Chris Froome's second child, a daughter, was born on 1 August 2018.

Chris Froome was appointed officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to cycling.

Since winning his first Tour de France title in 2013, doubts over Chris Froome's performances were raised by various experts, including former Festina coach Antoine Vayer.

The test, arranged by Chris Froome himself, took place shortly before the start of the Vuelta, on 17 August 2015, in the GlaxoSmithKline Human Performance lab in London.

Chris Froome released results from a previous test, carried out in 2007 while being part of the UCI development programme.