Chris Froome’s medical check-up leaves some room for hope. The Briton, quadruple winner of the Tour de France, does not suffer from a fracture after his fall towards the end of the first stage on Saturday in Landerneau in Finistère, his team Israel SN announced in the evening.
A decision on the rest of the Tour will be taken on Sunday morning, added the formation about Froome and his Swiss teammate Reto Hollenstein, two of the victims of this opening stage.
Already four withdrawals
The medical press release published in the evening by the Tour de France before the details provided by his team reported for Froome of “hip and thorax trauma”. Four riders have already retired after this first stage: the German Jasha Sutterlin (DSM), the Spaniard Marc Soler (Movistar), the French Cyril Lemoine (BB Hotels) and the Lithuanian Ignatas Konovalovas (Groupama-FDJ) .
Froome, 36, is making his return to the Tour this year, two years after his serious fall during a course reconnaissance on the Dauphiné. Suffering from multiple fractures, including a femur and a hip, the Briton underwent several surgeries and a long recovery. Within the Israel SN team, which he joined in the offseason after having spent most of his career at Sky (currently Ineos), Froome holds the role of road captain on the Great Loop.