Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome suffered a life-threatening heart injury during last week’s training accident, according to his wife Michelle.
The crash in the south of France on Wednesday left Froome needing surgery to repair a fractured vertebrae, collapsed lung and five broken ribs.
However, it has now been revealed the operation also uncovered a rupture of the pericardium due to blunt chest trauma which was incurred when Froome collided with a road sign at over 30mph.
“It was obviously a lot more serious than some broken bones. He’s fine, but it’s going to be a long recovery process,” Michelle told The Times.
“He won’t be riding a bike for a while. Chris is happy for you to share this because people need to understand what is going on.”
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The 40-year-old is expected to make a full recovery, but at the very least the current season is over.
Froome is in the final months of the five-year contract he signed when he left Ineos Grenadiers to join Israel Premier-Tech ahead of the 2021 campaign.
Froome won the Tour de France in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, also winning the Giro d’Italia in 2018 and the Vuelta a Espana in both 2011 and 2017 — all with Team Sky.