Chris Froome news: Team Ineos’s Dave Brailsford gives update on crash recovery from 2019 Tour de France

Froome was undergoing a reconnaissance ride around Roanne in central France ahead of the day’s time trial when he took one hand off his handlebars and lost his front wheel in a gust of wind

Chris Froome has left hospital three weeks after the high-speed crash at the Criterium du Dauphine which left him in intensive care, and will now begin a programme of rehabilitation following the fractures to his femur, ribs, elbow and neck sustained in the incident.

Froome was undergoing a reconnaissance ride around Roanne in central France ahead of the day’s time trial when he took one hand off his handlebars and lost his front wheel in a gust of wind, slamming into a wall at more than 50kph.

He was stabilised by an ambulance at the scene before being airlifted to hospital, and has been treated at a specialist unit in St Etienne.

Speaking ahead of the Tour de France, which begins on Saturday in Brussels, Froome’s general manager at Team Ineos, Sir Dave Brailsford, said that the 34-year-old had left hospital on Thursday and had been able to put his feet on the floor for the first time since the crash.

“He left hospital yesterday and was transferred home,” Brailsford said. “It’s a big step for him. He’s managed to put his feet on the floor for the first time in quite a long time.

“A few of the guys here have been to visit him and he’s in remarkable spirits for the situation he’s found himself in.”

Geraint Thomas, who won the Tour last year, and the 22-year-old Egan Bernal, who won the recent Tour de Suisse, will co-lead Ineos in Froome’s absence as they aim to win their first Grand Tour since Sky withdrew sponsorship of the British team.