Froome returns to training outside amid Ineos departure rumours

Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome has returned to outdoor training following reports he could leave his Ineos team this season.

Recent reports suggest Froome has been offered moves away from Ineos during this season.

Team Ineos have been contacted for comment.

Froome’s current contract runs out at the end of this calendar year, and he has previously said he has yet to decide who he will ride for in 2021.

But Cycling News reported on Thursday the Briton is in discussion with two teams for a possible mid-season transfer – a rarity in cycling.

Ineos has a plethora a talented riders who could be backed as the ‘leader’ to win the Tour this year, including last year’s winner Egan Bernal, 21.

Moving to another team could give Froome guaranteed backing as lead rider for the Tour, rather than having to battle other riders for supremacy in the same team.

Bernal recently said: “I’m not going to throw away an opportunity to win another Tour de France, that’s for sure. I don’t think I’m going to do that.”

Cycling’s biggest race has been won by Froome in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017 – but he lost out to team-mate Geraint Thomas in 2018.

Froome has said previously he wants to focus on winning more editions of the Tour before the end of his career but missed out last year following a support-race crash in which he broke his neck, femur, elbow, hip and ribs.

Froome recently told the French newspaper L’Equipe: “My dream, when I retire, would be to have won more Tours de France than anyone else.”