Is this the end of his racing career? Chris Froome suffers broken collarbone at UAE Tour crash, denting hopes for one last Vuelta rodeo

Chris Froome’s ambition of ending his career where it took off — at the Vuelta a España — has taken a massive dent after the British rider suffered a broken collarbone as a result of a mass crash at the final stage of the UAE Tour, with his bike reduced to a terrible wreck.

After just eight kilometres of racing, there was a mass crash in which several riders went down, including Bahrain Victorous’ Rainer Kepplinger and Israel-Premier Tech’s Chris Froome. However, unlike the Austrian who went on to recover from the crash and finish 15th in the stage, the four-time Tour de France winner wasn’t as lucky, instead having to abandon due to injury.

His team has now confirmed that he suffered a fractured right collarbone. “Chris Froome was forced to abandon the UAE Tour following a crash during the final stage,” Israel-Premier Tech wrote in a statement. “A CT scan has confirmed a distal non-displaced fracture of his right clavicle (collarbone). Chris will be assessed tomorrow by an orthopaedic surgeon in Dubai to determine whether surgery will be required to stabilise the fracture.”

🇦🇪UAE Tour - stage 7

De nombreux coureurs veulent prendre part à l'échappée du jour. On voit notamment à l'avant Alexey Lutsenko et Pierre André Côté (Israël Premier Tech).
Pendant ce temps une chute intervient dans le peloton avec Joshua Tarling (Ineos-Grenadiers) 2ème du… pic.twitter.com/8gktfPd1PQ

— CyclingRag (@SebastienFlanq1) February 23, 2025

Although footage of the crash wasn’t shown during the broadcast, with cameras only picking up the scene of the fall after the riders had gone down, images have revealed severe damage sustained by Froome’s Factor Ostro Vam, with the Black Inc front wheel broken into two pieces and the tube having come apart.

The extent of the injury and the recovery and rehabilitation period is yet to be determined, however, fans are worried that this could very well be the final race of Froome’s career, with the 40-year-old touted to retire at the end of the 2025 season.

> “I think it’s time”: Chris Froome says 2025 could potentially be his last season and suggests retiring at Vuelta would be a “nice way to close the circle”

In December, he had suggested that 2025 could be his final season, while also expressing his desire to ride one last Grand Tour, especially the Vuelta since it would be a “nice way to close the circle”, having won the race 13 years ago with Team Sky and kickstarting a career that would embed him not only as a British cycling great but also an overall icon of the sport.

“Next year [2025] would potentially be my last season racing and to finish at the Vuelta could be a really nice way to close the circle, having started at the Vuelta, to finish at the Vuelta as well. That could be very special,” he said.

“I think it’s time. Next year I'm going to be 40. It was always my goal to be racing until the age of 40, so I’m getting closer to that goal. I can be very happy with everything that I’ve been lucky to achieve in the sport.”

Chris Froome, 2024 Arctic Race of Norway (ARN/Aurelien Vialatte)

Since his terrible crash into a wall at the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné, Froome has found himself riddled with numerous controversies (such as his bike setup woes, team rift drama, equipment blaming, and of course, the infamous disc brake rants) as well as further injuries.

After a lengthy recovery, Froome had to deal with a knee injury due to “overtraining” ahead of the 2022 season. In the same year, he was the victim of a dooring incident while returning home from a training ride, sustaining minor injuries in the crash.

In March last year, his miseries compounded once again, with the veteran rider being forced to abandon the Tirreno-Adriatico after fracturing his wrist. He later described the situation as: “I can’t catch a break”.

Despite having previously indicated otherwise, just a few weeks ago, Froome said that retirement is “not 100 per cent certain” in 2025, saying: “Chances are, yes, I’ll be calling it a day, but I’m just keeping the door open. [I’ll] see how this year goes, see how I’m feeling towards the end of it.”

Could Froome really come back for the Vuelta this year, or maybe even next year for one last hurrah, emulating Sir Mark Cavendish's heroics? Or have we witnessed a rather unceremonious end to the professional cycling career of a living legend? Time will tell…