Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome announced his retirement from professional cycling on Friday during a speech in Barcelona at the Grand Départ of the tournament.
The 41-year-old British cyclist, who won multiple Grand Tour victories, decided to end his career after a severe training crash last year left him with debilitating injuries.
"Unfortunately, there was that fall last summer. That wasn't the way I wanted it to end.
But even then, I knew it was over," Froome said.
When asked if his decision was final, Froome simply replied, "Yes."
In August last year, Froome was airlifted to a hospital after suffering five broken ribs, a spine fracture, a collapsed lung, and a life-threatening pericardial rupture during a training session.
Froome dominated the sport with Team Sky between 2010 and 2020, winning the Giro d'Italia in 2018 and two Vuelta a España titles in 2011 and 2017.
His performance declined in later years, finishing 113th in the 2022 Vuelta and 68th at the Tour of Poland.
After leaving Team Sky, Froome signed a lucrative deal with the now-defunct Israel-Premier Tech team in 2021 but struggled to regain form, drawing public criticism from billionaire team owner Sylvan Adams.
"We signed Chris to be the leader of our Tour team and he's not even here, so that cannot be considered value for money," Adams said.
"Chris isn't a symbol. He isn't a PR tool.
So no, I couldn't say he's value for money."
Froome will attend this year's Tour de France as a brand ambassador for race sponsor Skoda, where he will watch Tadej Pogacar attempt to equal the record of five Tour victories.
"He's a lot younger than I was when I was trying to go for my potential number five," Froome told Agence France-Presse.
"If he's able to stay on his bike, if he can stay out of trouble, just the way he's moving this year, it looks as if he's got this one in the bag."
Froome's career faced scrutiny over doping allegations, particularly after an adverse analytical finding for salbutamol in 2018, though he was later exonerated.
He defended his integrity at the time, saying, "I said I would never dishonour the yellow jersey and my results would stand the test of time.
I won't – and they will."
