Israel-Premier Tech team owner Sylvan Adams appears to be pushing Chris Froome towards retirement at the end of the 2023 season, suggesting to Cycling Weekly and the Radio Cycling podcast that Froome had “absolutely not” proven value for money.
Adams also suggested that Froome’s lack of results in recent months, and his consequential non-selection for the Tour de France, “have nothing to do with” the serious injuries he sustained in his terrible crash in 2019.
“How could we say we had value for money? We signed Chris to be the leader of our Tour de France team and he’s not even here so that cannot be considered value for money,” Adams said bluntly while also highlighting his respect for the seven-time Grand Tour winner.
“This is not a PR exercise. Chris isn’t a symbol, he isn’t a PR tool, he’s supposed to be our leader at the Tour de France and he’s not even here, so no I couldn’t say he’s value for money.”
It has wrongly been reported that Froome is earning as much as €5 million per season - Froome denied that to Cyclingnews back in 2021.
Cyclingnews understands that the figure was linked to a sponsor that eventually opted not to come on board, with Froome estimated to earn around €1 million from Israel-Premier Tech.
Adams has already explained that Froome has a rolling contract that allows the four-time Tour de France winner to race on until he is 40 in 2025 but the agreement with Adams also means Froome will retire after his time at Israel-Premier Tech.
Adams now appears keen to make room for new young riders to emerge at Israel-Premier Tech after the likes of Derek Gee emerged at the Giro d’Italia. However, Froome is keen to race on in 2024 and even return to the Tour de France.
On Thursday, apparently, soon after being contacted for reaction to Adams’ comments and as Israel-Premier Tech published a video of Froome promoting Israel as a tourist destination, Froome again spoke about his disappointment at not being selected for the Tour de France in a video titled: “I WAS READY FOR THE TOUR.”
He said in the video he believed he had “a lot more to give and a lot more to show” and described not making the Tour de France teams as "a pretty big disappointment and pretty big let down.”
Froome claimed mechanical problems stopped him showing his form but his best result in a low-profile 2023 season was 14th in the Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes one-day race.
Adams argued that Froome simply hadn’t deserved to be selected for this year’s Tour de France.
“Which guy here on this team should we have left at home in order to give Chris a spot he didn’t earn?” Adams asked.
“Because I can’t answer that question. These guys earned their spots and I feel good about the team I brought here. Chris I know was disappointed but he understood the decision. But of course, he was disappointed because in his heart he believed he could eventually come here and perform.
“Not as a GC guy - and really we brought him as a GC guy, we didn’t sign him to be a stage hunter - and we all recognise, including Chris, he is not ready to compete for a GC podium, forget about winning, or even close to a podium, so if he wants to come here and hunt for stages he has got to displace one of these guys here and frankly he didn’t earn his spot.”
Would he really want to continue to be a pedestrian domestique on this team?
Adams accepts that signing Froome was a risk after his crash and due his age but having a former Tour de France winner massively boosted the profile of the team even if the team failed to avoid relegation from the WorldTour for 2023-2025.
He indicated that Froome’s initial three-year contract with the team comes to an end at the end of this season but confirmed Froome could have an option to race on.
Yet Adams opened the door to Froome departing at the end of this year, questioning why he would want to continue racing in smaller races and have to fight for a place in major races against far younger riders who are also targeting stages rather than the overall classification.
Froome said in his video that he is scheduled to ride the Czech Tour which begins on July 27 and then possibly the Deutschland Tour. After losing WorldTour status, Israel-Premier Tech was not invited to the Vuelta a Espana.
“If he started to show some results I guess he would be encouraged.,” Adams said.
“If he just doesn’t produce results in lower-tier races, would he really want to continue to be a pedestrian domestique on this team? That’s up to Chris. He has my personal commitment: he will retire as a member of Israel-Premier Tech.”
