Chris Froome, British professional cyclist who won La Vuelta a España twice, in 2011 and 2017, plus five individual stages, received a well deserved tribute from the race organisers during the Vuelta a España 2026 presentation in Monaco this week.
Froome, 40 years old, was still active in 2025, working for Israel-Premier Tech (currently known as NSN Cycling Team), but his contract has not been renewed for 2026. In August, he suffered a serious accident during training with life-threatening injuries, and has underwent surgery three times, as early as last Tuesday, but is committed to recover and has not announced a retirement.
Asked by CyclingNews, he said that "people will know soon enough" about his plans for next year. When pressed, he said that in the next couple of months he will announce his plans, "I've got a pretty good idea, but I'm not quite ready to announce it yet."
Froome, who has also won Tour de France four times (2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017) and Giro d'Italia (2018), as well as Critérium du Dauphiné three times, got emotional while watching videos from his victories at La Vuelta, specially in 2011, his first Grand Tour, which felt like "watching a race from the 1980s or 90s, it feels so long ago". "La Vuelta really has been such a special part of my career, as a rider, it's given me so many special memories, and a lot of suffering in between. But it's the race I've always looked forward to the most."