Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome says the aftermath of his crash at the Critérium du Dauphiné was like something out of a television drama.
The 34-year-old says he has no recollection of what happened when he did crash. Speaking in an interview posted to the Team Ineos Twitter page, Froome said, “I can remember lying on the ground and I remember the first responders coming over to me. My coach Tim Kerrison, Gary Blem, my mechanic and Servais Knaven, my director, were all in the car behind me.
"I think my first question was: ‘Can I get up? Can I get back on my bike? Am I going to be OK?’ And they made it very clear that I wasn’t and I should just lie still and that I wouldn’t be carrying on with the rest of the race. One of my first questions was: ‘Am I going to be alright for the Tour de France in a few weeks time?’
In his first interview since the crash that ended his 2019 season, @ChrisFroome reflects on the incident and details his rigorous daily recovery regime which is helping him move closer to his goal of lining up on the start line for the 2020 Tour de France. pic.twitter.com/qWaubno3fz
— Team INEOS (@TeamINEOS) August 3, 2019
"And they very quickly put that out of my mind. They obviously couldn’t give a prognosis but they said it looks like your leg is broken and your arm doesn’t look good either. So no, you’re not going to be on your bike. And, I think those first few moments are the ones that really sort of hit home and I took it on board that I’m not going be racing the Tour de France this summer. It almost felt like a scene from Grey’s Anatomy or something.”
He was immediately taken to hospital in Saint-Etienne. Froome said, “I could barely even breathe after surgery. My lungs had been damaged by my broken ribs and my broken sternum. I was coughing up blood and was having help to breathe. It was scary when I came around the morning after the operation and just felt how hopeless I was, lying in that bed.”
Froome says his recovery is ahead of schedule and does three-to-four hours of physiotherapy a day, and says his main goal is to be able to compete in the 2020 Tour de France.
Earlier this month, he was awarded the 2011 Vuelta a Espana after Spanish cyclist Juan Jose Cobo was stripped of victory due to doping irregularities.
