(Reuters) – Four-times Tour de France champion Chris Froome says he dreams of competing in the world’s greatest cycling race once more before calling time on his glittering career.

The British rider, who will be 40 next year, has one year left on his contract with the Israel-Premier Tech team.

“It’s not crazy to think that I can return to the Tour,” Froome, who won the race in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, said in an interview with Spanish daily Marca on Tuesday.

“I keep dreaming about it. I still don’t know what my schedule will be for next year. We will see it in the next training camp in 2025.

“But my challenge is to try to run in a big one again.”

Froome, who has won a total of seven Grand Tours, has struggled get back to anywhere near his best form since suffering serious injuries in a horrific high-speed crash during training for the Criterium du Dauphine in 2019.

“I had never been as strong in training as before my fall in that Dauphine. Such is life. I thought the 2019 Tour was the one that really got away from me,” he said.

“I have to be honest and realise that I can no longer have the same challenges that I had before that crash, but I still enjoy the bike.”

PHENOMENON POGACAR

While Froome was once the king of the peloton, the landscape is now dominated by Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar and Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard who have shared out the last five editions of the Tour de France between them.

Froome describes Pogacar, who claimed a third Tour title this year and also triumphed at the Giro d’Italia, as a phenomenon.

“They have been very good for two years, dominating in the Tour and elsewhere. But Remco (Evenepoel) is also there at a high level. There are other things to look at,” he said.

“Even though they win a lot, cycling is a fun sport with them. I believe that Pogacar, after winning two majors and several other things (this year), is the best rider of the year and of the century.”

While Froome says men’s cycling is in a golden era, accidents have continued to overshadow the sport with the death of Norway’s Andre Drege at the Tour of Austria again highlighting the risks.

“There are several factors, not everything is for the same reason. I don’t know why it happens,” Froome said.

“I don’t think the fault lies with the cyclists alone or with the organisers. Now there is a lot of stress in the peloton. It’s going faster now than it was 10 or even five years ago. It’s another cycling. It’s much more explosive.

“A lot has evolved in terms of equipment, nutrition, material, training.”

Kenya-born Froome played down his chances of competing at next year’s road world championships in Rwanda — a first for Africa.

That the cycling World Cup is coming to Rwanda and a continent like Africa is good news,” he said. “I would like to be there but, to be honest, I’ll find it very difficult to achieve it. But I may be there for other reasons.”

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)