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.
Froome’s unusual return takes him from Italy to Monaco
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.
Froome won seven Grand Tours over the course of his legendary career
No contract, no retirement, no final line
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.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- guillaume martin is wuite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
- Who cares what Bruyneel thinks. He and his best mate Lance, the biggest fraud in the history of sport, have no place commenting on anything but how to lie and cheat!whit2pet02-11-2026
- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
- bravo! a rider likes jonas needs motivation and he needs to believe in being able to reach goals. he - like anybody else in the world - doesn't believe that he can win the tdf with pogi present. and what's it worth for when pogi is not there? second class victory only. he has checked all three grand tours, so what is left if not retire? the classics! go for it, jonas!Ketterechts02-11-2026
- i am sure that under the pretext of medical examination a lot worse has happened when they were under.abstractengineer02-11-2026
- dude, Lemond never even was in the same race as Armstrong. He throws all these aspersions on other American riders who might usurp his throne as the greatest ever American racer. He doesn't say a single thing about (foreign) dopers who he actually raced against. Biggest douchebag move ever. I used to revere that guy, now I despise him. His actions are so weird.fatsupermodel02-11-2026
- This is just stupid, You do what you are good at not what you are weak at. He has no results to speak of when he participated. Even Froome, Conatdor had very little. With Pogi there he wont win none of the classics. he is already 30+ with a few years left at the top. It takes years to get good at classics. Is that really worth the effort???abstractengineer02-11-2026
- Sure, little fella.awp02-11-2026
- You'll be the ongoing joke of 2027 with anything you post here!frieders302-11-2026
- Awwww your inside information must be from PogiFanGirl. You two daughters of different mothers?frieders302-11-2026
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