Chris Froome is 'keeping the door open' to racing in 2026 - could he ride on?

Don’t believe everything you read on ProCyclingStats. If you were to head over to the database website now, and navigate to Chris Froome, you would see an ominous sentence at the top of his page: Will retire on 2025-12-31.

The phrasing makes it sound definite, a total certainty. Froome will retire, end of story. And yet, in the words of the four-time Tour de France winner himself, there’s nothing concrete about it, not yet anyway.

“I haven’t 100% decided that I’ll be retiring at the end of this year,” Froome told the Never Strays Far podcast at an early season training camp. “Chances are, yes, I’ll be calling it a day, but I’m just keeping the door open. [I’ll] see how this year goes, see how I’m feeling towards the end of it.”

So might we see Froome in the peloton next year?

For months now, the Brit has said he wants to keep racing until the age of 40, a birthday he’ll celebrate this May. Many have assumed this means he’ll retire this season, but the milestone has only ever been a goal for him, not a finish line.

Of course, only a handful of riders choose to continue beyond this point. The oldest male WorldTour pro this season is 38-year-old Jayco AlUla rider Alessandro De Marchi. Closely trailing the Italian is Ineos Grenadiers' Geraint Thomas, only six days younger, and planning to retire at the end of the year.

At 39, Froome is older than both, but under no obligation to give up just yet. In fact, some riders have continued to find success in their 40s. Look at Alejandro Valverde, for example, who took his last WorldTour victory aged 41 at the Critérium du Dauphiné, or Annemiek van Vleuten, a 40-year-old winner of both the Giro d’Italia Donne and Vuelta Femenina.

Needless to say, recent results show Froome’s competitive level is not the same as Valverde’s or Van Vleuten’s towards the end of their careers. But if he feels he can continue to play a support role, then he might still be valuable to a team, although with which team is another question.

This is where the crux of Froome’s future lies. At the end of this season, the Brit's five-year deal with ProTeam Israel-Premier Tech is set to time out. It is very unlikely his contract will be renewed; Froome's salary is understood to be worth millions of euros, and IPT’s owner, Sylvan Adams, has said that signing the Tour winner was “absolutely not” value for money.

Might another team take a gamble on him? Let’s look at his CV.

Froome is considered to be the greatest Grand Tour rider of his generation. He has won four Tours, two Vueltas a España, and a Giro d’Italia, and is one of just three men to hold all three at the same time, alongside Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault.

In 2019, however, then aged 34, the course of Froome’s career changed rapidly. As he completed a recon of the time trial course at the Critérium du Dauphiné, he crashed at high-speed, breaking his femur, elbow and ribs. He was airlifted to hospital, rushed into intensive care, and doubts were cast about his future as a pro cyclist.

Eight months later, Froome returned to the peloton – an impressive feat in itself – but he hasn’t won a race since. His last victory, in fact, was the Giro d'Italia in 2018, while his highest placing last year was 21st on a stage of the Tour du Rwanda. He might be the greatest Grand Tour rider of his generation, but that generation is no longer at the top.

This current form, combined with his age, would make him a hard sell to potential new employers. It’s clear Froome is under no illusion the case is otherwise. “Chances are, yes, I’ll be calling it a day,” he said, realistic about his future. Still, it’s hard not to admire his will to carry on.

For almost two decades now, Froome’s life has been anchored in his career as a pro cyclist. “Once you’re into it, you’re into it,” he told Never Strays Far's host Ned Boulting. Is he not bored of the lifestyle? "No!" Froome snapped back.

Today, he stands among the last remnants of a generation of British Grand Tour greatness. Yes, he will soon be 40, but his passion still burns. Don't rule out seeing him in 2026 just yet.