PARIS (Reuters) – Four-time champion Chris Froome said he has no guarantees that he will be selected by his Israel Premier Tech team for the Tour de France as he struggles to regain peak fitness three years after a career-threatening crash.
The Briton has rarely looked like his old self since suffering a broken femur and other injuries at the Criterium du Dauphine in 2019, finishing 133rd overall in last year’s Tour, more than four hours behind winner Tadej Pogacar.
However, the 37-year-old took an encouraging 11th place at last week’s Classic Alpes-Maritimes, a one-day race for climbers and is taking part in the Criterium du Dauphine this week.
While he has been struggling to keep up with the best riders, he says the real test will come in the Alps at the weekend.
“Since the end of January, beginning of February, I felt that for the first time, I didn’t have any pain in my hip,” Froome was quoted as saying by French sports daily L’Equipe on Friday.
But Froome, who won the Tour in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, said he still did not know if he would take part in the Tour.
“I have no guarantees at all,” he added.
“We will see how it goes (in the mountain stages this weekend). I’m not putting myself under any kind of pressure, I have no expectations, I just want to give my best, see how I fare on long climbs. And we’ll take it from here.”
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
