Chris Froome suffers knee setback in preparations for new season

Chris Froome has won the Tour de France four times (Bradley Collyer/PA)

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome has been forced to delay his preparations for the 2022 season due to a knee injury.

The 36-year-old Briton revealed he damaged a tendon in his knee during pre-season training.

“I’ve just got back from doing some scans at the hospital,” Froome said on his YouTube channel.

“For the last 10 days or so I’ve been getting quite a bit of pain on the outside of my knee while I’m pedalling.

“Unfortunately I think just getting back into training these past couple of weeks I might have been a little bit too keen, pushing a little bit too much.

“This was after a few weeks off the bike and maybe the body wasn’t ready to push that hard. It’s flared up and caused a bit of inflammation.

“What it means is I’m going to have to take the best part of a week off the bike before starting very gradually.

For the last 10 days or so I've been getting quite a bit of pain on the outside of my knee while I'm pedalling

“It’s definitely a setback for me. I’m not too sure where I’m going to start the racing year and it’s going to push everything back slightly.”

Froome is no stranger to injuries having broken his femur, elbow, hip and ribs in a crash while training at the Criterium du Dauphine in Roanne, France, in 2019.

Froome won the Tour de France in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. He returned to the race in 2021 but sustained injuries on the opening stage, going on to finish 133rd.