Chris Froome has said the start of his season is likely to be delayed as a result of a knee injury. He believes recent training caused his knee to flare up, with damage to a tendon diagnosed during scans.
In his latest YouTube video (below) he said he had been for scans as he had "quite a bit of pain" around his knee while training on the bike for about 10 days. It is the latest setback for the four-time Tour winner as he tries to come back to his former level.
Now going into his second season with Israel Start-Up Nation, he has not been in contention to win races since he returned to competition in February, 2020, following his serious crash the previous season. He suffered multiple fractures during a TT stage recon ride at Critérium du Dauphiné in June, 2019, when he hit a wall at speed.
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"The scans have basically shown that I’ve damaged my TFL tendon, which is basically where the IT band connects on the side of the knee there,” Froome said in the video recorded on New Year's Day.
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“I think just getting back into training these last couple of weeks I might have been a little bit too keen, pushing on maybe a little bit too much, and this has flared up obviously after a few weeks off the bike.
“Maybe my body wasn’t ready to push that hard and it’s flared up and caused a bit of inflammation, it’s definitely quite sensitive there. I’m going to have to take best part of a week off the bike completely before starting very gradually without loading it for the best part of two to three weeks after that. So it’s definitely a setback for me.
“I’m not too sure where I’m going to start the racing season next year, but this is definitely going to push everything back slightly. It’s unfortunate, but I’m going to have to just make the best of it and keep working on things that I can work on off the bike.”
Froome had been due to travel to Argentina for the Vuelta a San Juan later this month, if it goes ahead amid the latest surge in Covid-19 infections. Following that, he had planned to ride Tour de Rwanda at the end of next month before returning to Europe for the start of the season there.
