Crash that saw Froome airlifted to hospital left four-time Tour de France champ with life-threatening injury to heart.
Four-times Tour de France champion Chris Froome sustained a life-threatening injury to his heart in a training crash in southern France last week, his wife Michelle said.
The 40-year-old Briton was airlifted to hospital in Toulon after the August 27 crash, which also left him with broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a back fracture.
His wife said doctors discovered Froome had suffered a pericardial rupture – a tear in the protective sac surrounding the heart, often caused by blunt chest trauma.
“It was obviously a lot more serious than some broken bones,” she told The Times newspaper. “He’s fine, but it’s going to be a long recovery process. He won’t be riding a bike for a while.”
