Chris Froome‘s training halted
The four-time Tour de France winner will have to take a full week off the bike. Froome explained on his YouTube channel that he trained too hard too soon after his off-season break. That resulted in inflammation of his tensor fascia latae, a small muscle that attaches to the iliotibial band and is involved in hip flexion, abduction, and internal rotation as well as knee flexion and lateral rotation – movements that are all crucial for cycling.
“For the last ten days or so I’ve been getting quite a lot of pain on the outside of my knee while I’m pedalling. The scans have basically shown that I’ve damaged my TFL tendon, which is where the IT band connects on the side of the knee,“ he explained in the video.
“Unfortunately, I think getting back into training these past couple of weeks I might have been a little bit too keen, pushing a little 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.”
Froome has not been able to get back to the top level since the dramatic crash at the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné.
“It’s definitely a setback for me. I’m not too sure where I’m going to start the racing season. This is definitely going to push everything back slightly.
“It’s unfortunate but I’m going to have to make the best of it and keep working on things that I can work on off the bike – make sure to do a lot of core work, strengthening muscles I can work on without stressing that tendon further.”
We wish you a speedy recovery, Chris!
