Chris Froome is back! British cycling legend’s return to bike racing confirmed... sort of

Chris Froome’s next race is not at the Tour de France, not on the road, and not even on a traditional bike.

The seven-time Grand Tour winner is set to take part in Together Crossing for the Pelagos, a 225km water-bike challenge from Viareggio in Italy to Monaco on 19 and 20 June. Froome will be one of 32 athletes involved in the charity relay, with former WorldTour riders Jakob Fuglsang and Filippo Pozzato also expected to take part.

It is Froome back in a competitive endurance setting, but not back in the peloton. The 41-year-old remains without a professional road team for 2026 after his contract with Israel - Premier Tech, now known as NSN Cycling Team, was not renewed at the end of last season.

He has still not officially announced his retirement either. Four Tour de France victories, one Giro d’Italia title, two Vuelta a Espana wins and no formal farewell. Now, Froome’s next bike challenge will come across the Mediterranean.

Together Crossing for the Pelagos will see the 32 participants split into eight teams of four for a relay across open water. The route is set to begin in Viareggio, pass through Italian, French and Monegasque waters, and finish in the Principality of Monaco.

Instead of road bikes, the riders will use water bikes, machines built around a cycling-style pedalling motion on floating structures. The challenge is linked to the foundations of Princess Charlene of Monaco and Prince Albert II of Monaco, with the event focused on marine protection, water safety and awareness around the Pelagos Sanctuary.

The sanctuary covers a protected area in the north-western Mediterranean and is known for its importance to marine mammals and wider biodiversity. The sporting challenge is unusual enough on its own. Froome’s name on the start list adds the cycling intrigue.

Froome’s place in the sport hardly needs restating. The four Tours, two Vueltas, the 2018 Giro d’Italia and that Colle delle Finestre raid were secured long before his career drifted into its strange final phase.

The 2019 Criterium du Dauphine crash changed the direction of everything that followed. Froome returned to racing, and his third place on Alpe d’Huez at the 2022 Tour de France briefly brought the old story back into view, but the full comeback never arrived.

His spell with Israel - Premier Tech became the last chapter of his professional road career so far. A further serious training crash in August 2025 added to the sense that the end was coming, and his contract was not renewed when that season finished.

NSN Cycling Team have moved on. The peloton has moved on. Froome, though, has never made the formal announcement that would turn assumption into fact.

Now he is back on a bike-shaped machine, back in a race-style challenge, and back alongside names from the WorldTour past. The road-racing career that made Froome one of the defining Grand Tour riders of his generation remains suspended without an official final act.

His next finish line will come in Monaco, after 225km across the water rather than three weeks across France, Italy or Spain.