Chris Froome: I would just love to get back to the Tour de France

Chris Froome (Israel Premier Tech) has told Eurosport that he will race until the end of his current contract in 2025 and that his aim for this year is to return to the Tour de France and compete for a stage win.

The four-time Tour de France winner has struggled with form and fitness since his career-threatening crash at the Criterium du Dauphine in 2019 and failed to make the Tour de France roster in 2023 as a result.

“I'm still contracted for this year and for next year, and for now I think that would take me until being 40 years old. I think that, for me, is quite a good goal — to reach 40 and still be racing," he told Eurosport in an interview earlier this week.

“I would be really happy with that, but I mean in terms of actual goals, getting back to the Tour de France and fighting for even a stage win would be for me an amazing way to end my career — with at least a few more battles in the mountains."

Froome made the Tour de France squad in 2022 and came third on the mountain stage from Briançon to L'Alpe d'Huez. Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) won the stage, and Froome hasn't posted an individual top-ten since then.

His stature as a stage race contender has never returned to the level of 2018, when he won the Giro d'Italia and became the then reigning champion in all three Grand Tours. During the interview, he admitted that those days were probably behind him and he looked at evaluating his goals in the latter stages of his career.

“A fifth Tour de France for me is always there as a dream, but I think I've come to the reality now that returning to that level of really fighting for victory at the Tour de France is certainly going to be very, very difficult," he said.

“For me right now, I would just love to get back to the Tour de France. Even if I'm there fighting in the mountains, potentially for another stage win, that would be amazing.”

Froome's next race has yet to be confirmed after he abandoned Tirreno-Adriatico in March with a fractured wrist sustained in a crash. He avoided surgery and was due to return to action towards the end of last month but has not lined up for a race since then.

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