Chris Froome turns 40: 7 years on from his last victory

Today, May 20th 2025, Chris Froome has turned 40! A four-time Tour de France champion, winner of the Vuelta a España and the Giro d’Italia, Froome's name once defined an era of stage racing. But as time rolls on and his presence in the peloton has faded, it’s all too easy to forget just how formidable he once was, and how much he overcame in his pursuit of greatness.

Froome’s palmarès is staggering. With 46 professional victories, including seven Grand Tour titles, he sits among the most successful riders in the sport’s modern history, and he was the dominant force before Mr Pogacar came along.

He ruled the Tour de France from 2013 to 2017, winning four editions with control, searing climbing ability, and an unmatched capacity to eek out time at every possible opportunity. In 2017, he added a long-sought Vuelta a España to his haul, completing the rare Tour–Vuelta double (although he was eventually awarded an earlier title too).

But it was the 2018 Giro d’Italia, the final Grand Tour he would win, that truly turned Froome into a legend.

That Giro was already slipping away from him when, on Stage 19, he launched one of the most audacious solo attacks in cycling history. With over 80 kilometres to go, Froome tore away from the Maglia Rosa group on the Colle delle Finestre, riding alone across three climbs to not only win the stage but seize the pink jersey.

We will never forget that stage, and Simon Yates certainly won’t either. It was a long range solo attack that even Tadej Pogacar would be proud of!

Yet the years that followed were cruel. In June 2019, just as Froome prepared to chase a fifth Tour de France title, he crashed at high speed during reconnaissance for the Critérium du Dauphiné time trial. The injuries were extensive: a fractured femur, elbow, ribs, and a collapsed lung. The crash was not just career-threatening, it was nearly life-ending. Froome later described being unable to walk unassisted for months. The comeback was long and uncertain, and in truth he has never been the same since.

While he did return to the peloton in 2020, Froome was never the same. His high-profile move to Israel Start-Up Nation (now Israel–Premier Tech) in 2021 was framed as a fresh chapter, a team built around him for a final Tour push. In reality, it has been a disastrous move that has soured the legacy of Froome, who has struggled to keep pace in even mid-level stage races.

Critics pointed to his age, his injuries, and the lucrative contract that failed to yield results. But what often gets lost in that conversation is just how rare Froome’s achievements were, and somehow we seem to have forgotten this.

It’s tempting to remember Froome’s final years and forget the prime that preceded them. But that would be a mistake. His ability to win three straight Grand Tours, Tour, Vuelta, and Giro, across the 2017–2018 span was a feat unmatched in decades. His win at La Pierre-Saint-Martin in 2015, and moments like running up Mont Ventoux without his bike, should be what we remember as the real Chris Froome.