‘People will know soon enough’ – Chris Froome remains tight-lipped about his future plans at 2026 Vuelta a España presentation

No news yet: Grand Tour champion Chris Froome has yet to reveal if he will definitively hang up his wheels in 2026 despite having no team lined up for next season.

The 40-year-old received a moving homage at the end of the 2026 Vuelta a España route presentation in Monaco, being brought up on stage to watch a brief film of his double victories in the Vuelta in 2011 and 2017.

However, when asked by Cyclingnews after the Vuelta presentation about plans for his future, the four-time Tour de France winner would not reveal if he had decided to retire or not.

Following a bad crash earlier this autumn, Froome did confirm that he was back on the recovery trail, having had a third operation in hospital as recently as Tuesday.

“The last few months I’ve been in and out of hospitals, only getting out there just yesterday, so my focus has been on that,” Froome told Cyclingnews.

“I’m not really ready to talk about my plans just yet, but when I am, I’ll be sure to let everyone know.”

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Asked directly if a decision had not been made or if plans had not been made yet, he said, “People will know soon enough.” Asked for a specific point when it might become public, he replied, “in the next couple of months. Literally, I just got out of the hospital so it’s been about getting back on my feet.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea, but I’m not quite ready to announce it yet.”

Froome said he got very emotional watching images during his first pro win at Peña Cabarga in the 2011 Vuelta a España.

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“It was like watching a race from back in the 1980s or 1990s, it feels so long ago, but that really was where it started for me, in terms of believing in my own GC potential and what I could achieve as a professional rider.”

“The Vuelta really has been such a special part of my career, as a rider, it’s given me so many special memories, and a lot of suffering in between. But it’s the race I’ve always looked forward to the most.”

Regarding the 2026 route, he said, “It’s incredible how the organisers manage to make each year’s edition harder than the last and next year’s doesn’t disappoint. What did they say, it’s got the most altitude metres it’s ever had?”

“Especially heading from here in Monaco to the south, the heat is going to predominate, and it’ll get hotter and hotter all the way. It’s going to be a brutal edition.”