Chris Froome

Christopher Clive Froome is a Kenyan-British professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI ProTeamIsrael–Premier Tech. 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 and 2017).  

Name: Chris Froome

Birthday: 20 May 1985

Birthplace: Nairobi, Kenya

Turned Pro: 2007

Height: 1.86 m 

Froome was born in Kenya to British parents and grew up there and in South Africa.

His father was a professional hockey player representing Britain and his mother’s family had emigrated from England to run a crop farm in Kenya. At the age of 13, his mother took him to participate in his first bike race, which was a charity event that he won.

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 Espana 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 Espana and the 2018 Giro d'Italia, his first victories in both races. 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. 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. 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.