Christopher Clive Froome [kɹɪs fɹuːm], OBE (born 20 May 1985) is a Kenyan/British road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Israel–Premier Tech.[7][8] He has won seven Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de France (in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017), one Giro d'Italia (2018) and the Vuelta a España twice (2011[N 2] and 2017). He has also won several other stage races, and the Vélo d'Or three times. Froome has also won two Olympic bronze medals in road time trials, in 2012 and 2016, and took bronze in the 2017 World Championships.
Froome was born in Kenya to British parents and grew up there and in South Africa. Since 2011 he has been a resident of Monaco. At the age of 22, Froome turned professional with Team Konica Minolta. In 2008, he joined the team Barloworld. The same year he moved to Italy and started to ride under a British licence. In 2010, he moved to Team Sky and quickly became one of the team's key cyclists. Froome made his breakthrough as a Grand Tour contender during the 2011 Vuelta a España where he finished second overall, later promoted to first, retrospectively becoming the first British cyclist to win a Grand Tour cycling event. At the 2012 Tour de France, riding as a super-domestique for Bradley Wiggins, Froome won stage seven and finished second overall, behind Wiggins.
His first recognised multi-stage race win came in 2013, in the Tour of Oman, followed by wins in the Critérium International, the Tour de Romandie, the Critérium du Dauphiné, and the Tour de France. In the 2014 Tour de France, he retired after multiple crashes. In 2015, he won his second Critérium du Dauphiné and his second Tour de France. He won a third Tour de France in 2016 and became the first man since Miguel Induráin in 1995 to successfully defend his title. He won his fourth Tour de France in 2017, followed by successive wins at the 2017 Vuelta a España and the 2018 Giro d'Italia, his first victories in both races.[N 3] These achievements made him the first cyclist to win the Tour–Vuelta double since the Vuelta was moved to September, the first rider to achieve any Grand Tour double in nearly a decade, and the first to hold all three Grand Tour winners' jerseys at the same time since Bernard Hinault in 1983.
Throughout his career Froome has faced a series of allegations that he exploited a loophole in cycling's anti-doping regulations to use a performance-enhancing drug.[9] In 2019 a serious training crash before the Critérium du Dauphiné halted Froome's career, after he broke numerous bones including his pelvis, femur and four ribs. Although he managed to recover following surgery to return to the peloton in 2020, he struggled to regain his former form. He left Ineos Grenadiers at the end of 2020 to join Israel Start-Up Nation but his form struggles continued through the 2021 season, with Froome failing to contend seriously in stage races since his accident. His post-accident struggles drew comparisons with former grand tour contender and three-time podium winner Joseba Beloki who infamously crashed out of the 2003 Tour de France while in contention for the victory, and never recovered his former grand tour form.[10] His most notable Grand Tour accomplishment post-accident was a 3rd-place finish on the Alpe d'Huez stage of the 2022 Tour de France. Froome was in the top 30 overall on general classification when forced to pull out by illness.
Despite these struggles, Froome remains the most successful general classification rider still active in the peloton as of 2022.
Froome was born on 20 May 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya,[11] the youngest of three boys to mother Jane and English father Clive, a former field hockey player who represented England at under-19 level.[12] His mother's parents had emigrated from Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England, to Kenya to run a crop farm.[13][14][15] Whilst living abroad his parents maintained British customs with Sunday roast dinners and Beatles songs which contributed to his desire to represent Great Britain in cycling.[16] In Kenya he would sell avocados and discarded bike parts.[17] Froome's two older brothers, Jonathan and Jeremy, went to Rugby School in Warwickshire, England.[12] When Froome was 13, his mother took him to his first organised bike race, a charity race that he won despite being knocked from his bike by his mother. There he met professional cyclist David Kinjah, who became Froome's mentor and training partner.[12][18][19][20] Initially Kinjah misjudged Froome's attitude, fearing he lacked the "work ethic to keep pace with more experienced riders of the group"[17] His mother was upset with his cycling, often driving out ahead, attempting to drive him back home.[17]
After finishing primary school at the Banda School in Nairobi,[21] Froome moved to South Africa as a 14-year-old to attend St. Andrew's School, a publicly funded school in Bloemfontein[22] and St John's College, a boarding independent school in Johannesburg.[20][23][24] Froome attended St John's alongside South African-born Scott Spedding, who went on to a professional rugby union career including playing internationally for France.[25] Whilst in South Africa he was the school's cycling captain and kept in contact with Kinjah.[17] He then studied economics for two years at the University of Johannesburg.[26][27][28] In South Africa Froome started to participate in road cycling. On one of his school holidays, his home club gifted him with a second-hand yellow jersey. Being unaware of the Tour de France, he failed to see the significance.[17]
It was not until he was 22 that he turned professional.[26] Froome started road racing in South Africa, specialising as a climber.[29] Froome competed for Kenya in the road time trial and the road race at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, where he finished 17th and 25th respectively, catching the attention of future Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford: "The performance he did, on the equipment he was on, that takes some doing ... We always thought he was a bit of a diamond in the rough, who had a huge potential."[30] While representing Kenya at the 2006 Road World Championships in the under-23 category in Salzburg, Austria, Froome crashed into an official just after the start of the time trial,[11] causing both men to fall; although neither was injured,[31] he finished in 36th place.[32] Froome's appearance at the Worlds came about after he impersonated Kenyan cycling federation president Julius Mwangi by using Mwangi's email account to enter himself into the Championships, in order to add some European racing experience to his CV and boost his chances of obtaining a contract with a professional team.[33]
Froome turned professional in 2007, aged 22, with the South African team, Konica Minolta, withdrawing from university two years into his degree in economics.[34] He competed from April to September in the U23 Nations Cup for the Union Cycliste Internationale's World Cycling Centre (WCC) team based in Aigle, Switzerland.[35] In May he rode his first stage race, the Giro delle Regioni, winning stage five, riding for WCC.[34][36] In late-May he won stage six of the Tour of Japan, attacking from a breakaway in the fourteen-lap circuit in Shuzenji.[37] In June he competed at the "B" world championships in Cape Town, placing second to China's Haijun Ma in the 26.8-kilometre-long (16.7 mi) time trial.[38][39] In July, he claimed a bronze medal in the road race at the All-Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria.[40] On 26 September, he placed forty-first in the under-23 time trial at the world championships in Stuttgart, three minutes and thirty seconds behind the gold medalist, Lars Boom of the Netherlands.[41] His performances in 2007 attracted the attention of British Cycling coach, Rod Ellingworth, who believed Froome had potential. Froome said: "Although I was riding under the Kenyan flag I made it clear that I had always carried a British passport and felt British. It was then we talked about racing under the Union Flag, and we stayed in touch."[13]
Froome was introduced to the South African-backed, second-tier UCI Professional Continental team, Barloworld, by South African Robbie Hunter, signing with them for the 2008 season.[23][34] In March he finished second overall in the Giro del Capo in South Africa, one minute and forty-one seconds behind his teammate, Christian Pfannberger.[42] Over March and April, he rode the Critérium International, Gent–Wevelgem and the Ardennes classics. In May 2008, Froome switched from a Kenyan licence to a British licence, to have a chance of riding in the 2008 Summer Olympics, where Kenya did not qualify.[43] He made his Grand Tour debut when he was named in Barloworld's squad for the Tour de France – becoming the first participant born in Kenya,[43] in which he finished 84th overall and 11th among the young rider classification.[44] In October, Froome finished fourth overall in the Herald Sun Tour in Victoria, Australia.[45]
Froome claimed his next professional win in March 2009, with the second stage of the Giro del Capo in Durbanville, South Africa, attacking a ten-strong breakaway with 30 km (18.6 mi) and finishing four minutes ahead.[46] He then participated in the Giro d'Italia, in which he came 36th overall, and seventh young rider classification.[47] In July he won a minor one day race, Anatomic Jock Race, in Barberton South Africa.[48] In September 2009, it was announced that he was to join British cycling team, Team Sky, for the 2010 season.[49]
Froome rode the 2010 Giro d'Italia. On stage nineteen, he was suffering with a knee injury and on the Mortirolo Pass he was seen holding on to a police motorbike. He had been dropped by the gruppetto, and intended to reach the feed zone and retire from the race. For holding on to the motorbike he was disqualified from the race.[50][51] During his first season with Sky, his best result was at the Tour du Haut Var, where he finished ninth in the overall standings.[52] He also finished second at the 2010 national time trial championships.[53] In October he represented England at the Commonwealth Games, in Delhi, coming fifth in the 40-kilometre-long (25 mi) time trial, two minutes and twenty seconds behind the winner, Scotland's David Millar.[54]
The early highlights of Froome's 2011 season were top fifteen finishes in the Vuelta a Castilla y León and the Tour de Romandie. Froome had a mixed Tour de Suisse, riding with the lead group on some mountain stages yet losing time on others, and finishing ninth in the final time trial,[55] and 47th in the general classification.[56] He continued his season at the Brixia Tour where he finished 45th in the general classification, and the Tour de Pologne, finishing 85th.[57]
Froome entered the Vuelta a España as a last-minute replacement for Lars Petter Nordhaug[57] and a domestique for Bradley Wiggins. Wiggins gave him credit for his ride in stage nine, where he helped Wiggins gain time on his rivals.[58] The following day in stage ten, however, Froome out-rode Wiggins to finish second in the time-trial behind HTC–Highroad's Tony Martin and to take an unexpected lead in the race.[59][60] During stage eleven he helped his team neutralise some attacks but soon found himself unable to follow the main group. However, he managed to hang on to second place in the general classification.[61]
After losing the jersey to Wiggins on stage eleven, Froome continued to ride in support of his leader. On stage fourteen, he helped to drop rivals including Liquigas–Cannondale rider Vincenzo Nibali and Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) on the final climb. Wiggins credited his lead to Froome, in a stage which also saw Froome rise back up to second in the standings.[62] On the tough stage fifteen which ended on the Alto de l'Angliru, stage winner Juan José Cobo (Geox–TMC) took the overall lead. Froome finished in fourth place, forty-eight seconds behind Cobo, and retained his second place in the overall strandings.[63]
On stage seventeen, Froome attacked Cobo 1 km (0.6 mi) from the summit finish, but Cobo fought back, catching Froome in the final 300 metres, only for Froome to attack again to win the stage and arrive one second in front of Cobo.[64] As a result of time bonuses, Froome reduced Cobo's lead to thirteen seconds. Froome was unable to reduce Cobo's lead any further and initially was placed second overall in the Vuelta.[65] On 17 July 2019, Froome was declared the winner of the race following the disqualification of Cobo for drug offences.[66] The win, retroactively, made him the first British rider to win a Grand Tour.
Froome was initially close to being dropped by the team at the end of the season, and Sky's team manager Dave Brailsford had been in talks with Team RadioShack's manager Johan Bruyneel offering a trade, but Brunyeel had turned down the offer saying 'I want a cyclist, not a donkey'.[67][68][69] However, after watching Froome's strong performance in the Vuelta, team manager Dave Brailsford reportedly flew to Spain to offer him a new contract in the middle of the race.[67] Five days after the race's finish in Madrid, Froome signed a new three-year contract with Sky.[70]
Later that year, it was revealed Froome had suffered throughout the year from the parasitic disease schistosomiasis, after having picked up the disease during a visit to Kenya in 2010.[71][12][72] Brailsford speculated that the disease had affected Froome's earlier career in a negative way.[73] The discovery and subsequent treatment of the illness has been used to explain Froome's rapid rise in form during 2011.[23][73] He was part of the Great Britain team that helped Mark Cavendish win the world road race championship.[74] In October, Froome finished third overall in the first edition of the Tour of Beijing, 26 seconds behind overall winner Tony Martin.[75]
The early part of Froome's 2012 season was wrecked by illness. He withdrew from the Volta ao Algarve with a severe chest infection, and blood tests showed the schistosoma parasites were still in his system.[71][76] In March, while on a training ride, Froome collided with a 72-year-old pedestrian.[77] He returned to racing in May, for the Tour de Romandie, where he helped Wiggins win the race overall,[78] before participating in a training camp on Teide in Tenerife with several of his teammates.[79]
Froome was selected for the Sky squad for the Tour de France. After placing 11th in the prologue,[80] he suffered a punctured tyre 9 mi (14.5 km) from the end of stage one and lost over a minute to overall leader Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack–Nissan).[81] On stage three, Froome was involved in a crash on the hill-top finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer, and was sent flying into safety barriers, but was unharmed and was given the same finishing time as the winner, Peter Sagan of Liquigas–Cannondale.[82] On stage seven finishing atop the Category 1 climb to La Planche des Belles Filles, he protected his leader Wiggins and was part of a small group that came in sight of the finish line. Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) attacked, Froome jumped on his wheel and won the stage with an advantage of two seconds over his leader and Evans. Froome took the lead in the mountains classification.[83] With that operation, he took the polka dot jersey, but lost it to Fredrik Kessiakoff of Astana the very next day.[84] Froome finished second to Wiggins on stage nine, an individual time trial, and moved up to third overall.[85]
On stage eleven to La Toussuire, Froome attacked the remaining group on the last climb, 4 km (2.5 mi) before the finish line. He subsequently received the order from his team manager to hold back and wait for yellow jersey Wiggins. He finished third on the stage.[86] For his efforts in assisting Wiggins, Froome was lauded in the media as a super-domestique.[87][failed verification] On stage seventeen, Froome and Wiggins finished second and third respectively on the final mountain stage to further cement their general classification positions,[88] although Froome repeatedly waited for Wiggins on the final climb, costing him the chance of winning the stage.[89] On stage nineteen, a time trial, Froome finished second to Wiggins, mirroring the overall standings.[90] Wiggins went on to win the tour with Froome second, becoming the first two British riders to make the podium of the Tour de France in its 109-year history.[91]
Froome, along with Sky teammates Wiggins, Cavendish and Ian Stannard, as well as Millar (Garmin–Sharp) were selected for Team GB's road race at the Olympic Games.[92] Froome and Wiggins also contested in the time trial.[93] Froome won bronze in the time trial, with teammate Wiggins taking gold.[94] Froome was selected as Team Sky's leader for the Vuelta a España, where he aimed to go one better than 2011 and win his first Grand Tour.[95] He lay third after the first mountain finish on stage three,[96] and moved up to second on stage four after leader Alejandro Valverde crashed, losing 55 seconds to the chasing group.[97] Froome moved down to third during the stage-eleven time trial sixteen seconds off leader Rodriguez.[98] He lost another twenty-three seconds on stage twelve, putting him 51 seconds down.[99] He struggled through the rest of the second half of the race. He ended up fourth overall, finishing over ten minutes behind the race winner, Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank–Tinkoff Bank).[100]
Froome's 2013 season began at the Tour of Oman, where he took the race lead on stage four, finishing second to Rodríguez on the summit finish of Jebel Akhdar.[2] Froome then won the following stage to extend his lead, out-sprinting Contador and Rodríguez.[101] He finished the race taking the overall classification, his first stage race win of his career, 27 seconds ahead of Contador, with Cadel Evans twelve seconds further back. He also won the points classification.[102]
Froome then led Team Sky at the Tirreno–Adriatico in March, where he won the fourth stage after countering an attack by Contador, Astana rider Nibali and Vini Fantini–Selle Italia's Mauro Santambrogio on the final climb to Prati di Tivo.[103] Froome lost time on eventual winner Nibali on the penultimate stage, finishing the race in second place.[104]
Froome returned to action, and to the top step of the rostrum, in the Critérium International. After finishing fourth in the short second-stage time trial, he passed teammate Richie Porte to win the third and final stage. In so doing, he overtook Porte in the general classification.[105]
In late April, Froome won the 7.5 km (4.7 mi) prologue of the Tour de Romandie in Le Châble, Switzerland, taking the leader's jersey, with a six-second gap over Andrew Talansky of Garmin–Sharp.[106] He remained in the yellow leader's jersey throughout the entire race, increasing his advantage over his rivals to almost a minute with a strong performance in the penultimate queen stage. Near the end of that stage, after losing his support riders in the peloton, Froome gave solo chase to breakaway Team Katusha rider Simon Špilak and after catching him, worked with the Slovenian to maintain and extend their lead on the peloton and improve their general classification standings. Špilak won the stage, which catapulted him into second place in the overall, with Froome on his wheel in second.[107][108] In the final individual time trial stage Froome took third place, increasing his lead and winning his third race of the season.[109]
Froome's final warm up race before the Tour de France, for which he was favourite, was the Critérium du Dauphiné at the beginning of June.[110] He sat second overall behind Garmin–Sharp's Rohan Dennis after coming third in the time trial on stage four.[111] Froome won stage five after countering a late attack by Contador, to take the race lead by 52 seconds over teammate Porte.[112] Froome helped Porte solidify his second place on stage seven,[113] and on stage eight the pair rode away from their rivals on the final climb, with only Talansky (Garmin–Sharp) able to follow. Froome took second on the stage behind Alessandro De Marchi of Cannondale, who had attacked earlier, to secure overall victory, with Porte completing a one-two, 58 seconds back. This was Froome's fourth major stage race victory of the season, out of the five he had entered.[114][115]
Froome's Tour de France got off to a nervy start as he crashed in the neutral zone of the first stage on the isle of Corsica, but he was unharmed. Also, he avoided going down in the large crash towards the end of the stage.[116] After staying out of trouble for the rest of the first week, Froome won stage eight, the first mountain stage of the race, finishing on Ax 3 Domaines, by launching an attack after teammates Peter Kennaugh and Porte had brought back an earlier attack by Movistar Team's Nairo Quintana, and distanced most of Froome's rivals. Froome's winning margin on the stage was 51 seconds over Porte, and 85 seconds to Valverde (Movistar Team) in third. This gave Froome the overall lead in the Tour for the first time and the lead in the mountains classification.[117][118] On the following stage, however, Froome was left isolated as no teammates were able to follow repeated attacks early in the stage by Garmin–Sharp, Movistar Team and Saxo–Tinkoff riders. Despite being without any team support for most of the stage, Froome was able to defend his lead by following several attacks by Quintana and Valverde.[119] Froome then finished second in the individual time trial on the twelfth stage, twelve seconds behind Tony Martin, to put further time into all of his rivals.[120] However, on stage thirteen Saxo-Tinkoff caused a split in the peloton due to strong crosswinds, which Froome missed. Saxo–Tinkoff's Contador and Roman Kreuziger, and Laurens ten Dam and Bauke Mollema of Belkin Pro Cycling all made the selection and took 69 seconds out of Froome's lead, although Valverde lost over ten minutes and slipped out of contention.[121]
Froome won stage fifteen, which finished on Mont Ventoux. Kennaugh and Porte dropped all of the leading contenders except Contador on the early part of the climb, before Froome surged clear of Contador with 7 km (4.3 mi) remaining and caught Quintana, who had attacked earlier in the climb. The pair worked together to put time into their rivals, before Froome dropped Quintana with 1.2 km (0.7 mi) remaining and soloed to the finish. This gave Froome a lead of four minutes and fourteen seconds over Mollema in second place, with Contador a further eleven seconds back. Froome also regained the lead in the mountains classification.[122][123] He won the stage seventeen time trial, finishing the 32 km (20 mi) course from Embrun to Chorges in 51 minutes 33 seconds, with Contador coming in nine seconds behind him, in second place.[124] Froome defended his lead during the Alpine stages, extending his overall lead as Mollema and Contador dropped back.[125]
Froome won the general classification on 21 July with a final time of 83 hours, 56 minutes and 40 seconds; he was 4 minutes and 20 seconds ahead of second-placed Quintana. He was also King of the Mountains for six stages; however, he ultimately finished second to Quintana in that classification.[126] Froome's overall win and stage victories in the Tour win put him at the top of the UCI World Tour ranking, with 587, ahead of Sagan on 409.[127] Partly because[according to whom?] the 2013 Tour was the first since Lance Armstrong's admission of doping, such questions were asked of Froome. He insisted that he and his team were clean and stated that the questioning saddened him.[128] Froome was drug tested during the Tour[126] and Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford offered the World Anti-Doping Agency all performance data they had on Froome as evidence.[129]
In October Froome was named winner of the prestigious Vélo d'Or award for the best rider of the year.[130]
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