On a day when teammates Jacob Fuglsang and Michael Woods celebrated a one-two finish in the Mercan Tour Classic Alpes Maritimes, more cheers were heard at the Israeli premier tech in the mountain one-day race.

Chris Froome, who finished 11th on Tuesday, recorded his best result since the summer of 2019 and took a memorable step forward in his long recovery from a career-threatening crash at the Criterium du Dauphiné that same year.

Since his crash two days after finishing 11th in the second stage of the Dauphiné, Froome has fought for three years to approach the strength and form that earned him four Tour de France victories.

On the Col de Valberg, the 12km climb that closes the Alpes-Maritimes Classic, Froome finished outside the top 10 and 3:58 behind Fuglsang.

"For me personally, I've made a lot of progress in the last few months," Froome told CyclingPro (open in new tab) after the race. "I just finished training camp. My legs feel good." [Next up is the Criterium du Dauphiné. At the moment I'm just taking it week by week and focusing on feeling good and building momentum. I'm not there yet, but I'm definitely getting closer step by step."

At 37, Froome is in the midst of his second season at Israel Premier Tech.

In April, he described his return to the Tour de France this summer as a "dream scenario" and told Cyclingnews and the media gathered at the Tour de Alps that he had "many steps" to take before starting in Copenhagen in July.

He added then that there are no remaining problems or pain from the 2019 crash, noting that "there is very little holding me back now," and that the usual hurdles of focused training and weight loss remain as the main challenges to meet to regain form

"I am not sure how much I can do.

"It was a super day for the team with Jacob winning and Woody coming in second. I couldn't have asked for more today. I thought we were going to have a tough race, especially with the last three climbs, and I think the guys did a great job.

Froom was part of a select group of 14 that emerged after the climbs of La Colmiane (1st class) and Col de la Cuillol (2nd class), and the Brit was part of the group until early in the final climb of the race.

After breaking away from the lead group, Froome joined climbers Sebastian Reichenbach (Groupama FDJ), Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar), and Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroen) at the finish.

"It's really nice to see the team back on its feet," Froome concluded.

"We had a tough early season with a lot of illnesses, but now everyone is healthy and I think we're finally starting to put some good results on the scoreboard."