As in most sports, fans of cycling like to debate who the greatest of all time is. Of the current crop of riders, Slovenian ace Tadej Pogacar is one who stands out. The four-time Tour de France winner is still just 27 and may yet go on to prove himself the undisputed GOAT of road racing.
As things stand, he has perhaps not quite done enough to be mentioned alongside the likes of Eddy Mercx, Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil. Those three lead the way in terms of the number of Grand Tours they have won, with 11, 10 and eight respectively. They also boast a record five Tours de France each (Spain’s Miguel Indurain also has five, out of a tally of seven Grand Tour victories).
Pogacar is very much in the argument for being “best of the rest” though, and another person in that group is Nairobi-born Brit Chris Froome. Like Poggy, Froome has four wins in the grandest of the Grand Tours to his name but in terms of overall titles he has two more than the Slovenian. Froome is in an elite club of riders to have seven huge wins, with only the three legends mentioned above boasting more.
On the 3rd of July 2026 Froome announced that he was retiring from pro cycling. Fifteen years after his first win in a Grand Tour, he is calling time on a sensational career at the age of 41. He suffered a very serious crash in August 2025 and has not raced since then, which is obviously not the way he would have wanted his career to end. Indeed, that accident, which took place in training in France, may have shortened his career somewhat, although he had previously hinted that 2025 would be his last year in the sport.
One of the Best
Froome’s injuries from the crash were life threatening, with the rider airlifted to hospital and found to have five broken ribs, a lumbar vertebrae fracture and a collapsed lung. Subsequently it was revealed he also suffered a very serious heart injury, with a pericardial rupture requiring surgery to fix.
The accident took place near Toulon, with Froome crashing head-on into a road sign at a speed of more than 30 miles per hour. His wife stated at the time that “He’s fine but it’s going to be a long recovery process,” adding that “He won’t be riding a bike for a while.”
Had the injury not occurred, 2025 could have been his final year in professional cycling anyway, with his contract with Israel–Premier Tech ending. However, perhaps not wanting to finish this way, Froome delayed announcing his retirement to see if there was any way for him to go out in a more fitting style. Sadly it was not to be. He told Sporza, a Belgian broadcaster, “Unfortunately, there was that crash last summer – that was not the way I wanted it to end. But even then, I knew it was over”.
Despite the accident, and the many crashes he endured over the years, Froome pedals away from the sport as one of the very best. At the height of his powers he was hugely dominant, even if some would argue that much of that was down to the technical brilliance – and wealth – of his team at the time, Sky (now INEOS).
GOAT-Level Record in Biggest Races
| Grand Tour | Years Won (General Classification) |
|---|---|
| Tour de France | 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 |
| Giro d’Italia | 2018 |
| Vuelta a España | 2011, 2017 |
He is one of only three cyclists to have won three Grand Tours in a row (though not in the same year). In that uber-elite trio he stands alongside Merckx and Hinault, probably the two greatest riders ever. Beyond those three, only five other cyclists have completed a clean sweep of the three biggest tours.
Froome won his first Grand Tour at the 2011 Vuelta a Espana. He would twice finish second in the Vuelta before claiming a second win in 2017. That was perhaps his greatest year as he also won the Tour de France, for the fourth time. Previous TdF wins had come in 2013, 2015 and 2016, so that 2017 success completed a hat-trick.
In 2014 he won the Tour de Romandie and the Tour of Oman but he could not defend his Tour de France title, the race that year starting in Leeds, England. He suffered crashes in stage four and five, the latter in wet conditions. Injuries, including a fractured wrist, forced him to withdraw.
His final Grand Tour win was his only success in the Giro, and completed the “Froome Slam” (as probably nobody calls it). It came in 2018 on the back of his wins in 2017’s TdF and Vuelta. He went on to finish third in that year’s Tour de France but after that, for a range of reasons, his results in the Grand Tours really fell away.
In addition to his many wins around the world, he also claimed two Olympic medals. In 2012 he took a bronze in the time trial, with Bradley Wiggins taking gold. Four years later Froome again won a bronze, this time behind Fabian Cancellara and Tom Dumoulin. Third was also his best finish at the time trial in the World Championships.
It is unclear what Froome will do next but he unquestionably leaves the sport as a legend. Awarded an OBE in 2015, he may not be as loved as Wiggins or Mark Cavendish, but he is perhaps the greatest road cyclist ever from the British Isles.