the UAE Tour starting on 21 February. Froome was selected for the Tour de France, his first appearance at the race since 2018, but named Michael Woods as team leader. Froome's compatriot Mark Cavendish, who won the points classification, insisted Froome was not to be written off, citing his own comeback testimony as example. Froome sustained injuries on the opening stage but continued on, eventually completing the race in 133rd overall. 2022: Israel-Premier Tech Froome made his 2022 debut at the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali after a knee tendon inflammation. At the end of May, while riding the 2022 Mercan'Tour Classic Alpes-Maritimes, Froome managed his best result since his crash at the 2019 Critérium du Dauphiné, when he finished 11th in the mountain race. On stage 12 of the 2022 Tour de France, which was a high mountain stage that finished atop Alpe d'Huez, he bridged up to the breakaway with Tom Pidcock about halfway through the stage, and finished top three of a Tour de France stage for the first time since the 2018 edition. He signed in at the podium on stage 18, but did not start because a second Covid test came back positive. At the time he was on pace to finish about 100 places higher than he finished the previous year. Personal life Froome met Michelle Cound, a South African of Welsh origin, through South African rider Daryl Impey in 2009. Froome and Cound moved to Monaco together in 2011 and got engaged in March 2013. The couple married in November 2014, and on 14 December 2015 had their first child, a son named Kellan. Froome dedicated his 2013 Tour de France win to his mother, who died of cancer five weeks before his Tour debut in 2008. His second child, a daughter named Katie, was born on 1 August 2018. Froome was appointed officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to cycling. Physiology Since winning his first Tour de France title in 2013, doubts over Froome's performances were raised by various experts, including former Festina coach Antoine Vayer. These allegations were based mainly on his sudden transformation from a relatively unknown rider to a Grand Tour winner, following his breakthrough performance in the 2011 Vuelta. After his dominant showing in the first mountain stage of the 2015 Tour, the suspicions increased even