Chris Froome hoping to be back on the bike next month after latest surgery

Chris Froome has undergone surgery to remove a metal plate from his hip and screws from his elbow and is hoping to be back on his bike again next month. The implants were fitted earlier this year after he suffered a number of broken bones in a horrific crash while previewing the time trial course at the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Froome is targeting a record-equalling fifth win in the Tour de France next year and hopes to be back racing by February.

Speaking last month after riding an exhibition time trial at the Saitama Criterium in Japan, he said that the muscle and soft tissue affected by the metal plate were “quite tender,” so he will no doubt hope to increase the intensity of his training following its removal.

Small memento from the 2019 @dauphine pic.twitter.com/jv24JL1iKZ

— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) November 9, 2019

"I will need a few weeks off post-surgery, but hopefully I'll be able to train normally again in December, and hopefully things continue from there,” he told Cycling News. “I hope to be back racing by February, at least, and I'll just take it from there, really.

"There are no guarantees in sport – and in life in general – with this kind of process, but if I'm back racing by February... I don't know what level that would be, but I'd hope that within four months I could get back to racing the Tour de France as my normal self.

“That's my goal and, until I find any reason to believe it's not possible, I'm making it my objective."

Froome also underwent surgery in September after accidentally severing a tendon in his thumb with a kitchen knife.

“This is not my year,” he said at the time. “Can’t wait for 2020.”