Four-time champion Chris Froome has been omitted from Israel-Premier Tech’s Tour de France team for the second year running.
The British rider, who has not won a race since 2018, finished 81st in the recent Criterium du Dauphine, an event used traditionally to gauge form prior to La Grande Boucle.
The 39-year-old has endured a difficult opening to the season after fracturing his wrist in the Tirreno-Adriatico in March and only returning to racing in May.
Welshman Stephen Williams has made the eight-man squad externally designed to chase stage victories, after becoming the first British rider to win La Fleche Wallonne 88 years earlier this term.
Britain’s Jake Stewart and Canada’s Derek Gee, who impressed at the Dauphine, have also been included.
Froome finished 133rd in the 2021 Tour and was forced to withdraw 17 stages into the 2022 edition with Covid, while placing 26th in the general classification.
He originally joined Israel-Premier Tech in 2021 with the aim of getting back to full fitness following a 2019 crash in which he sustained career-threatening injuries.
However, he has struggled to regain the sort of form that made him a multiple Grand Tour winner.
Sylvan Adams, Israel-Premier Tech’s owner, has previously said his signing has “absolutely not” been value for money for the UCI Pro team.
“I’m sorry for having damaged the image of the sport,” Bernard posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, alongside a grimacing emoji, “but I would pay 200 CHF ($220) every day to relive this moment.”
The individual time trial on Stage 7 of this year’s race traversed 25.3 kilometers (roughly 15.7 miles) of Bernard’s home roads from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin in Burgundy, and so his family and friends had flocked to the roadside to cheer him on, waving homemade posters that said “Allez JB!” and jumping in the middle of the road.
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