Chris Froome 'keeping the door open on racing in 2026' despite "shock to the system" at the 2025 Tour of the Alps
CyclingMonday, 28 April 2025 at 13:51
Chris Froome might not be able to compete at the front of races like he used to, but the seven-time Grand Tour winner remains one of the biggest star attractions wherever he does take to the startline. The 2025 Tour of the Alps was no different for the 39-year-old of Israel - Premier Tech.
Returning to racing for the first time since crashing out of his season-opener at the UAE Tour, Froome played a mentor-type role for the Israel - Premier Tech team in the Alps, helping to guide the likes of Marco Frigo, Matthew Riccitello and Derek Gee. The latter of whom managed to claim a spot on the final podium, finishing 3rd in the general classification.
Performing with somewhat curious consistency, Froome came home between 71st and 76th in all five stages of the 2025 Tour of the Alps, enough to end up 76th overall in the general classification.
"Great to get a week of racing in the legs even though it was a bit of a shock to the system," reflected the modern day Grand Tour legend in a post to his social media after the final stage. "Happy with the progress & excited to keep building from here towards the summer."
That last line is especially interesting from Froome. The 39-year-old is in the final year of his current Israel - Premier Tech contract, and although it looks extremely unlikely he'll have his deal renewed, the Brit remains uncertain if he'll retire at the end of the campaign or try to continue elsewhere. Froome has also been vocal about the fact that he's dreaming of one final Tour de France appearance before retirement.
“I feel good. There’s always work to do, and it was a big setback with the collarbone. I spent a lot of time over the winter getting ready for the new season and that really put me back to square one but shit happens. It’s becoming more and more common in the peloton, with broken collarbones and broken bones. I’m just happy to get back into it now and keep building from here,” Froome told Daniel Benson at the start of stage 1 in San Lorenzo Dorsino, with the British journalist reporting Froome is 'keeping the door open on racing in 2026'.
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- Its a pretty easy comparison, Jonas is the best. Look at his opponent the Best rider of his generation and 3rd best of all time Pogi who he has beaten twice in TDF. Pedersen cant even beat MVDP in monumentsabstractengineer12-05-2025
- Did the person who wrote this article catch any of last season and what happened? Cut the guy some slack and stop feeding of someone else’s hard times, the above article is pretty redundant.Jezla12-05-2025
- Hey, all great and deserving of respect but let’s not look at things too pinkly. He’s only just above Marc Hirschi in the UCI rankings. He’s had the potential to do this for the last 7-8 years, it’s just all come together at once, having his moment. Maybe he went on a secret HA camp :-) Seriously though, he’s NEVER said he doesn’t believe in it (challenge: find me that quote), he said he hates it in words that would get an F1 driver punished, and for the same reasons that his fellow countryman Jonas gets crucified for, being away from family (though given team budgets, there is an obvious solution to that). Besides, not very professional of media and pundits to linger on past out of date sayings, he’s more or less changed his mind in the meantime and is no longer categoric about refusing to try.Mistermaumau12-05-2025
- I don’t think that pays off in cycling, you never know when your next problem will happen, injury, illness, crash, and using so much time to prepare for a big goal risks being very disappointing in a short career.Mistermaumau12-05-2025
- I love Remco but this year is a write-off. The smart move would be to treat it all as preparation for next season.Renz12-05-2025
- What you forget about hunting is that time is on the side of the hunter. You’d be a fool to underestimate rivals who haven’t peaked and I doubt you’ll hear any riders including TP or JV brushing him off like you’re trying. He’s done one GT against them, his first, what were you expecting? Still way ahead of any other contenders and that as a first-timer.Mistermaumau12-05-2025
- Its appears that way. Repeated crashes take a toll on the bodyabstractengineer11-05-2025
- He cannot hunt down something that he has never been close to in GTsabstractengineer11-05-2025
- He's just not the same after the crash at La Vuelta. I hope the knee injury does not "Chris Froome" his career.
KerisVroom11-05-2025 - Well, I didn’t hear any strict instructions from management so why shouldn’t it be like Visma’s infamous Vuelta unless things heat up? Am sure they don’t regret sweeping the podium which was only possible because internal rivalry was at least as strong as external.Mistermaumau11-05-2025
I guess good on him if he’s able to persuade Israel Premier Tech (or any team) to resign him. On the other hand, out right stupidity on any team if they do.