Despite the serious accident he suffered while training this summer and having finished his contract with Israel-PremierTech, where his performance has been very poor, Chris Froome continues to cling to professional cycling and is already back on the bike, hoping to find a team that will welcome him and allow him to keep enjoying his passion.
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Resisting retirement. Chris Froome back on the bike and searching for a team
Since that unfortunate time trial recognition at the Dauphiné in 2019, where he collided with his bike and suffered a serious injury, Chris Froome has not been even a shadow of the cyclist who amazed through the mountains of the Tour de France.
In recent years, his presence in races has been merely testimonial, always being one of the first to drop from the group when the terrain and pace became demanding, which led him to receive quite a bit of criticism from Sylvain Adams, the owner of the Israel-PremierTech team until a week ago, where the Brit has been competing until the end of the year when his contract expires.
As if that weren't enough, this summer, Chris Froome suffered a serious accident while training that could have had fatal consequences, as in addition to several broken ribs, a fractured vertebra, and a punctured lung, he suffered a tear in the pericardium, the membrane surrounding the heart, which put his life at risk.
However, several months later, despite knowing that, obviously, Israel-PremierTech will not renew his contract, the Brit published on his social media his return to the bike. At 40 years old, he remains determined to continue competing at a professional level, showing his passion for this sport even though his physical abilities are no longer what they used to be.
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A situation that surprises when we talk about a multi-winner of the Tour de France but that has not been strange in this sport. In Spain, we have two clear examples in the figures of Paco Mancebo and Óscar Sevilla, who continue to compete at 49 years old, or the great Davide Rebellin, who was still competing at 51 years old when he suffered a fatal accident.
And while it may be surprising that a Tour de France winner wishes to continue dragging himself along the roads, there is no doubt that behind that decision must be a genuine love for cycling, and if we consider that he must have his life practically sorted after the lucrative contracts he enjoyed at INEOS and Israel in recent years, being able to continue doing what one is passionate about is a privilege, even if it is just for the thrill of being in a peloton giving it all.
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