"Complete fabrication. We're good mates" - Chris Froome opens up on rumours of rivalry with Michael Woods

On Monday morning, L'Equipe reported the news that Chris Froome's Tour de France selection had been ordered by Israel - Premier Tech sponsors. What's more, they also reported on an in-team feud ongoing between Froome and Michael Woods.

According to this report, the reason Froome was omitted from the 2023 Tour de France squad was because of the rivalry with Woods, who would eventually go on to take a stage win at the Grand Tour. Quickly once the news began to circulate, Froome moved to quash the rumours. The Tour de France legend quickly reacted to the news on social media. On X, he posted in response to the article "That's news to me. What about you (Michael Woods)?" With his teammate replying "Haha same here buddy."

Speaking to Cycling News at the Criterium du Dauphine, Froome has now gone into more depth about the allegations and the lack of anything tangible to back them up. “It seems to be a complete fabrication of view on things in the team," Froome fumes. "Especially related to myself and Woodsy, saying there’s some feud between us. We’re good mates.”

“It will be tough to make the team. I think it very much depends on what the team’s objectives are. At this point that seems to be stage hunting and how capable riders are of being able to achieve that," continues the former Team Sky leader. “We’ve all got opportunities here at Critérium du Dauphiné and the Tour de Suisse to show how capable they are of fulfilling that team objective. I’m going to try to get up the road and show myself while building my form and finding some race intensity.”

“It's big bullshit. I have no idea where that information came from,” adds Israel - Premier Tech sports director Rik Verbrugge. “First of all, Chris Froome’s non-selection last year was a performance decision and a team decision to have a strong team at the start of the Tour de France. Woodsy won a stage and that was the goal of the Tour de France. The owners of the team were super happy with that performance. There is no tension between the two riders. There is no pressure from any of our sponsors to bring Chris Froome to the Tour de France, even for 2024. "