Chris Froome: Team Sky rider 'rammed off' road by impatient driver in France bike crash

Incident took place in the French commune of Beausoleil near Monaco

The cyclist posted a picture on Twitter of his damaged bike after the incident

Chris Froome has been deliberately “rammed” off the road while out riding on his bike, with the three-time Tour de France winner posting a picture of his damaged bicycle that had been “totalled” on Tuesday morning.

The 31-year-old British cyclist is preparing to tackle the Tour de France again in July in a bid to win the biggest race in the world for a third-straight year, following his victories in 2015 and 2-16 as well as his maiden success in 2013.

But his preparations took an alarming turn on Tuesday morning when he was involved in an incident in the French commune of Beausoleil, near Monaco, with what he described as “an impatient driver”, and posted the evidence on Twitter to reveal just how bad the damage was.

To make matters worse, the person responsible for hitting the two-time Olympic bronze medallist failed to stop at the scene and continued on their way after leaving the bicycle’s rear wheel buckled, with an angry but unhurt Froome taking to Twitter to reveal the extend of the crash and vent his anger in the process.

Writing on Twitter, Froome wrote: “Just got rammed on purpose by an impatient driver who followed me onto the pavement! Thankfully I'm okay. Bike totaled. Driver kept going!”

Froome is due to begin the defence of his Tour de France title on 1 July, with this year’s Grand Depart taking place in the German city of Dusseldorf as the first two stages of the race take place outside of France.

The Tour will come to a climax on Sunday 23 July with the traditional final stage ending in Paris on the Champs Elysees, with Froome bidding to become just the fifth cyclist to win the Tour de France four times, following in the footsteps of Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.