He left Ineos Grenadiers at the end of 2020 to join Israel Start-Up Nation but his form struggles continued through the 2021 season, with Froome failing to contend seriously in stage races since his accident.

Froome was born on 20 May 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya,[13] the youngest of three boys to mother Jane and English father Clive, a former field hockey player who represented England at under-19 level.

[15][16][17] Whilst living abroad his parents maintained British customs with Sunday roast dinners and Beatles songs which contributed to his desire to represent Great Britain in cycling.

[22][25][26] Froome attended St John's alongside South African-born Scott Spedding, who went on to a professional rugby union career including playing internationally for France.

"[32] While representing Kenya at the 2006 Road World Championships in the under-23 category in Salzburg, Austria, Froome crashed into an official just after the start of the time trial,[13] causing both men to fall, although neither was injured[33] He remounted and finished in 36th place.

[36] He competed from April to September in the U23 Nations Cup for the Union Cycliste Internationale's World Cycling Centre (WCC) team based in Aigle, Switzerland.

[42] On 26 September, he placed forty-first in the under-23 time trial at the world championships in Stuttgart, three minutes and thirty seconds behind the gold medalist, Lars Boom of the Netherlands.

[47] Froome claimed his next professional win in March 2009, with the second stage of the Giro del Capo in Durbanville, South Africa, attacking a ten-strong breakaway with 30 km (18.6 mi) and finishing four minutes ahead.

[55] In October he represented England at the Commonwealth Games, in Delhi, coming fifth in the 40-kilometre-long (25 mi) time trial, two minutes and twenty seconds behind the winner, Scotland's David Millar.

[60] The following day in stage ten, however, Froome out-rode Wiggins to finish second in the time-trial behind HTC–Highroad's Tony Martin and to take an unexpected lead in the race.

On stage fourteen, he helped to drop rivals including Liquigas–Cannondale rider Vincenzo Nibali and Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) on the final climb.

[69][70][71] However, after watching Froome's strong performance in the Vuelta, team manager Dave Brailsford reportedly flew to Spain to offer him a new contract in the middle of the race.

[93] Froome, along with Sky teammates Wiggins, Cavendish and Ian Stannard, as well as Millar (Garmin–Sharp) were selected for Team GB's road race at the Olympic Games.

[104] Froome then led Team Sky at the Tirreno–Adriatico in March, where he won the fourth stage after countering an attack by Contador, Astana rider Nibali and Vini Fantini–Selle Italia's Mauro Santambrogio on the final climb to Prati di Tivo.

[107] In late April, Froome won the 7.5 km (4.7 mi) prologue of the Tour de Romandie in Le Châble, Switzerland, taking the leader's jersey, with a six-second gap over Andrew Talansky of Garmin–Sharp.

[142] But on the penultimate fourth stage, which had a steep uphill finish, Team Sky worked hard and dropped all of Contador's Tinkoff-Saxo teammates as the leaders reached the final climb.

Froome won the stage and was able to open a 29-second gap on second-place Contador by the finish line, enough to overcome his deficit and take the overall race lead by two seconds.

[146] He later participated in the Tour de Romandie in hopes of winning it for the third year in a row, but had to settle for third place in the general classification after winner Ilnur Zakarin and second-place Simon Špilak, both of Team Katusha.

On the last stage, which culminated in a triple climb of Arthurs Seat and a summit finish, Froome broke away in a solo attack on the third and final ascent, and opened up a sufficient gap on the field to secure his first 2016 victory, along with the King of the Mountains award.

[172] In June, as preparation for the Tour de France, he took part in the Critérium du Dauphiné, which he won by 12 seconds over Romain Bardet of AG2R La Mondiale.

[174] Following the stage, Froome received a fine of 200 Swiss Francs for elbowing a spectator in the face who had run alongside him during the ascent of the Col de Peyresourde.

[175] He further surprised his rivals on stage 11 to Montpellier when he finished second in a sprint to Peter Sagan, after being part of a 4-man break in the final 12 kilometers after the peloton split due to crosswinds.

[187][188] With the victory, Froome became the first British rider to win the Vuelta, and the third man to successfully complete the Tour-Vuelta double in the same year joining Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault.

[201] On 5 February 2018, Froome announced he would start his season with an entry into the Vuelta a Andalucía (Ruta del Sol),[202] despite calls for him not to race until his case was resolved.

[208] By the end of the first summit finish on Mount Etna, Froome had risen to eighth overall, one minute and 10 seconds behind early race leader Simon Yates.

[196] Froome's first signs of recovery came through on the most difficult climb of the race to that point, Monte Zoncolan, where he distanced all of his main overall rivals, taking the stage win.

[212] On stage 18 to Prato Nevoso Yates displayed the initial signs of weakness, cracking on the final slopes of the summit finishes and losing 28 seconds to all of his other general classification rivals.

On the stage itself, the early breakaway, which included Froome's teammates Sergio Henao and David de la Cruz, was closed down by Yates's Mitchelton–Scott team just before the Finestre.

[215] Taking the maximum number of points on all three of the remaining climbs on the stage (Finestre, Sestriere and the Jafferau), Froome also moved into the lead in the mountains classification.

Since winning his first Tour de France title in 2013, doubts over Froome's performances were raised by various experts, including former Festina coach Antoine Vayer.