Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome has undergone “successful” surgery after a serious training accident in France that left him with a fractured vertebrae, collapsed lung and five broken ribs.

Froome, 40, crashed while on a training ride on Wednesday and was airlifted to hospital in Toulon, around 100 miles from his home in Monaco.

A statement from his Israel Premier-Tech team said: “We can confirm that Chris has successfully undergone surgery following his recent injuries. The procedures went as planned, and Chris is currently recovering in hospital under the care of his medical team.

“He is in good spirits and grateful for the excellent medical support he has received. Chris and his family would like to thank fans, friends, and the cycling community for their concern and kind messages during this time.”

Froome’s injuries will end his season and could therefore mean the end of one of the most successful Grand Tour careers in cycling’s history, with Froome in the final months of the five-year contract he signed when he left the Ineos Grenadiers to join Israel Premier-Tech ahead of the 2021 campaign.

Froome won the Tour de France in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, also winning the Giro d’Italia in 2018 and the Vuelta a Espana in both 2011 and 2017 – all with Team Sky.

Only four men have more Tour titles, with Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain all five-time winners. Only Merckx, Anquetil and Hinault have more than Froome’s seven Grand Tour titles, which leave him tied with Indurain, Alberto Contador and Fausto Coppi.

However, Froome has never recovered the form he enjoyed before a serious crash he suffered during the 2019 Criterium du Dauphine, which left him in intensive care with a fractured femur, elbow, ribs and pelvis.

The last of his 46 professional career wins came at the 2018 Giro and his best result since that 2019 crash was third place on stage 12 of the 2022 Tour de France to Alpe d’Huez as Tom Pidcock took the victory.

Froome broke his collarbone at the UAE Tour in February and had previously hinted that 2025 could be his final year of competitive racing. He last raced at the Tour of Poland earlier this month, finishing 68th overall.