Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome suffered life-threatening heart injury in crash

By Ben Morse, CNN

(CNN) — Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome suffered a life-threatening heart injury in his crash last week in France, his wife has said.

The 40-year-old Froome, who races for Israel–Premier Tech, was airlifted to hospital following a crash during training on August 27, undergoing surgery a day later.

In a post on Froome’s X account, it said that he had sustained a pneumothorax, five broken ribs, and a lumbar vertebrae fracture.

Speaking to The Times, Michelle Froome said her husband had also sustained a pericardial rupture, a tear in the protective sac surrounding the heart, often caused by blunt chest trauma and often occurring in road accidents.

“It was obviously a lot more serious than some broken bones,” Michelle said. “He’s fine but it’s going to be a long recovery process. He won’t be riding a bike for a while. Chris is happy for you to share this because people need to understand what is going on.”

She added that her husband had been taken to Sainte Anne Toulon military hospital, the highest level trauma center for the region which specializes in thoracic surgery, saying that Froome was shown a video of both the tear and the repair.

A post on Froome’s social media said that he was in “good spirits” after undergoing surgery.

The two-time Olympic medalist’s contract expires at the end of the season, with his participation in the remainder of the campaign looking unlikely.

Froome also suffered a big crash in 2019 when training and missed that year’s Tour de France. He was sent to intensive care and fractured his leg following the incident.

The 40-year-old is one of the sport’s most successful stars and dominated cycling during the mid-2010s.

He won his first Tour de France in 2013 before going on to win back-to-back-to-back titles in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Froome is also a one-time winner of the Giro d’Italia and a two-time winner of the Vuelta a España.

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CNN’s Thomas Schlachter contributed to this report.