Six years after his serious crash at the Critérium du Dauphiné, another serious accident has involved Chris Froome . The Kenyan cyclist, a naturalized British citizen, suffered a serious crash near Saint-Raphaël, France , during a training session and was then airlifted to hospital in Toulon.

Froome was seriously injured in the crash, but remained conscious throughout and did not suffer any head injuries. His condition is stable. Examinations revealed a pneumothorax, five fractured ribs, and a fractured lumbar vertebrae.

Contrary to initial reports, which spoke of a collision, a post published on Froome and his team's social media profiles describes a 'training crash' with no other riders or vehicles involved.

Froome, a four-time Tour de France winner (2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017), remained conscious and was even able to speak to his family. He will require surgery . Given this serious accident, the 40-year-old British rider is unlikely to return to racing before the end of the season.

A rider for the Israel-PremierTech team since 2021, Froome is at the end of his contract and hasn't won since 2018 (winning the Giro), having never regained the physical form he had before that first serious crash at the Dauphiné in 2019 in which he suffered a fractured femur.

After that accident and his long rehabilitation, Froome never returned to his former level.

(Unioneonline/vl)