Paris: Chris Froome as undergone surgery for eight hours on broken bones and will stay in intensive care in France for two or three days following a crash on the Dauphine course that ruled him out of the Tour de France.
Chris Froome sustained multiple injuries in a high-speed crash on the Dauphine course.Credit:PA
The rider's accident has coincided with an International Cycling Union's (UCI) ruling that may see him awarded the 2011 Vuelta a Espana.
Team Ineos manager Dave Brailsford said the four-times Tour champion sustained multiple fractures, including a broken femur, elbow and rib bones when he crashed at high speed while checking the course the Dauphine's individual time trial on Wednesday.
Brailsford told French newspaper Le Dauphine Libere that he had not talked to Froome because the rider was still unconscious.
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In his absence, defending champion Geraint Thomas and Colombian Egan Bernal will lead Ineos at the Tour, which starts in Brussels on July 6.
"We have a team with great riders. Everybody can be in top shape in July. As soon as we are at the start of the Tour we will make decisions," Brailsford said. "You don't set up tactics for July in June."
Brailsford spoke prior to the UCI announcement on Thursday that Spainish rider Juan Jose Cobo had been found guilty of an anti-doping rule violation between 2009 and 2011.
The violation has seen cycling's governing body impose a three-year suspension on the now-retired 38-year-old, with Spanish media repRead More – Source
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