A visit to Singapore late in the season provided a chance to snap a few shots of some of the bikes raced by the pros in 2022. Here’s a look at Chris Froome’s special-edition Factor Ostro from the Israel-Premier Tech team.

 

– Photos by Rob Arnold

Before the Vuelta a España this year Chris Froome was presented with a special-edition Factor Ostro bike featuring a graphic of a phoenix, customised colouring and a motivational quote: ‘If you fall, dare to rise again’.

You know the story: the superstar of cycling from only a few years ago hasn’t won a race since a little over a year before his dramatic crash while preparing for the time trial of the Criterium du Dauphiné in 2019.

At the time of his accident Froome was in the final phase of fine-tuning form in his quest for a fifth Tour de France title. After the fall, he has indeed dared to ride again and although he hasn’t been able to rise to the top of the podium, the thrill of racing remains.

 

We understand why he hasn’t won a race since his emphatic victory in the Giro d’Italia of 2018; the injuries sustained before the stage four TT in the Dauphiné were extreme. Still, he hasn’t lost his competitive spirit and continues life as a pro cyclist despite the significant setback he suffered after an unfortunate mishap in June 2019.

Instead of racing for the yellow jersey at the Tour de France in the month after his crash, Froome was celebrating other achievements… like being able to get out of bed and swim. Walking again, however, would take a little more time.

“He’s now out of bed and able to be in a wheelchair, and in the swimming pool, and doing some really good rehabilitation,” said Tim Kerrison, his coach at the time of the accident, during the TDF that Froome was never able to ride.

“He’s devastated, obviously, that he’s not here at this race because he knows the form that he had was what he needed to win his fifth Tour but, equally, he’s very focussed on getting back to where he needs to be and racing…”He recovered from his injuries but has never raced again at the level he once enjoyed. Still, he remains a star of the pro peloton and it’s fitting that Factor – a company he has invested in – has issued a bike with a special colour-way to celebrate his long list of accomplishments in a career filled with highlights.

The custom logo and graphics of the otherwise glossy black frame are in yellow, red and pink… they are famous colours in cycling and you know exactly why they are a feature on the bike Froome raced at the end of 2022. He has, after all, won the Tour de France four times (2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017), the Vuelta a España twice (2011 and 2017) and the Giro d’Italia once (2018).

 

Scroll down the page of this pro bike gallery and have a closer look at the details of Chris Froome’s special Factor Ostro.

Froome continues to use the Osymetric chainrings (54/42) that have long been a feature of his bikes.

Initially reluctant to use disc brakes, Froome has come around to the idea late in his career.

 

 

More from RIDE Media on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.