This crash ruled Froome out of the 2019 Tour de France, and although he is still in the peloton, riding for
Israel - Premier Tech, the Brit's career at the very top level was all but over following that crash. "Yeah, there is still a part of me that I feel, more just because of the form I was in 2019 when I crashed. I really felt that I was probably more ready for the Tour than I had been in the years prior to that," he remembers of a missed opportunity to join the likes of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain on five victories.
"I was feeling on a completely different level in 2019 compared to 16, 17 and 18, so I was so eager to get into that time trial that day at the Dauphiné, basically that, for me was the day it all started, really, in terms of the Tour, and the Tour build-up was at that Dauphiné," Froome's recollection continues. "So there is a part of me that's like: it's frustrating, but, at the same time, I can accept that. That's life. Shit happens."
Despite the somewhat brutal end to his Maillot Jaune challenging, Froome doesn't hold any lingering sadness about how his career has transpired since 2019. "I think I'm quite lucky. I don't really harp on what's happened, good or bad, and I think that's something that's always helped me in my career," Froome concludes. "Especially as a cyclist, because there are just countless hurdles and upsets that arise along the way, if you spend too much time really just thinking about everything it can trip you up mentally, whereas I'm always very much focused on what's coming and what's in the future."