Chris Froome back in hospital following kitchen knife accident

'This is not my year' said the four-time Tour de France champion

Chris Froome is back in hospital after cutting his thumb with a kitchen knife.

The four-time Tour de France winner required surgery on the evening of Friday September 6 to put the tendon back together.

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The 34-year-old tweeted a picture of himself sitting upright in a hospital bed with his arm in a sling, saying he’ll wear it for the next two weeks and will be “stuck giving a thumbs up for a couple of weeks.”

This is the second time Froome has been in hospital in what has been an unlucky 2019 for the Ineos rider. At the Critérium du Dauphiné he had a horrific crash during a recon of the time trial course, then being placed in intensive care after suffering numerous fractures and losing four pints of blood.

Six weeks later, Froome was back on the indoor trainer, pedalling with just his good leg, before getting back on his bike at the end of August, albeit just for a couple of short track sessions, as he continued his rehabilitation.

A video from a fan showed Froome greeting them in Nice in southern France by the track he was training at, not yet able to return to open public roads, explaining to them what happened in the freak accident as he prepared for the 2019 Tour de France, eventually won by his Ineos team-mate Egan Bernal.

The only goal Froome says he has set himself is to return to full fitness in time for the 2020 Tour de France, where he will attempt to win a record-equalling fifth title.

Despite his bad luck and being off the bike for the past few months, Froome has still managed to secure a Grand Tour in 2019, being handed the 2011 Vuelta a España after Juan José Cobo was stripped of the title following a doping violation.

Summing up his 2019, Froome said: “This is not my year, Can’t wait for 2020.”