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.
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"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.
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"Chris isn't a symbol. He isn't a PR tool.
