Chris Froome finally clear of parasitic disease

Chris Froome has finally been cleared of the disease that has troubled him for the past four years (Getty Images)

Chris Froome, this year's Tour de France winner, has finally been cleared of the disease that has troubled him for the past four years, he tells The Independent in an exclusive interview. He has been suffering with bilharzia, a parasitic disease, and has been having treatment since 2009.

"At last I am free of the debilitating disease bilharzia," he says. "I had a test when I went back to Kenya recently and it is the first time it has come back negative since the diagnosis [in 2009]. That is fantastic news for me. I'm not going to have to worry about that any more. That should be it gone now.

"I have been going back every six months for the past two years and returning positive results. When I was first diagnosed they said it had been in my system for at least two years, but it could have been there even longer, five or six years possibly."