Chris Froome: Tour de France setback for British cyclist who was excluded from Israeli Premier Tech team

Four-time champion Chris Froome has been excluded from Israeli Premier Tech’s Tour de France team for the second year in a row.

The British rider, who has not won a race since 2018, finished 81st in the recent Criterium du Dauphine, an event traditionally used to gauge form ahead of La Grande Boucle.

The 39-year-old had a difficult start to the season after breaking his wrist at the Tirreno-Adriatico in March and only returned to racing in May.

Welshman Stephen Williams has made it into the eight-man squad aiming for stage wins after becoming the first British rider in 88 years to win La Fleche Wallonne this season.

Briton Jake Stewart and Canadian Derek Gee, who impressed at the Dauphine, are also there.

Froome finished the 2021 Tour in 133rd place and had to withdraw from the 2022 edition after 17 stages due to Covid, while finishing 26th overall.

He originally joined Israel-Premier Tech in 2021 with the goal of returning to full fitness following an accident in 2019 in which he sustained career-threatening injuries.

However, he found it difficult to return to the form that made him a numerous Grand Tour winner.

Sylvan Adams, owner of Israel-Premier Tech, had previously stated that his signing for the UCI Pro team was “absolutely not” worth the money.

Froome’s contract with the Israeli team runs for one year after this season; before that, he won seven Grand Tours in ten years with Team Sky – the Tour de France in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, the Giro d’Italia in 2018 and the Vuelta a Espana in 2011 and 2017.