He then pointed the finger, although without naming names.
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“What I am saying is that if people are led to believe that these performances are not legitimate, that’s what’s going to push them to start booing, and to start punching and spitting and throwing urine on riders”, Froome said. I just hope it doesn’t interfere with the racing. “It’s those individuals and they know who they are”. He is nearly certainly referring to Antoine Vayer, a french coach and phys-ed teacher, most known for working with Christophe Bassons, the only rider on Team Festina who was cleared of doping charges following a 1998 raid on the Tour.
Brailsford was a guest on France 2’s post-race coverage when the Tour’s host broadcaster showed an expert poring over footage of Froome’s win at La Pierre-Saint-Martin last Tuesday, when his dominant display attracted innuendo and subsequent interrogations.
“Insulting the integrity of the yellow jersey is unacceptable”.
Prudhomme said, however, that a dislike for the Tour leader was not new.
“There’s a sort of frustration that many people have had for several days concerning Chris Froome’s striking, outstanding victory in the first Pyreanean stage, and the fact that those who were slated as his rivals weren’t up to the mark”, he stressed.
The fans are all up in the action of the race, perhaps closer than fans get to any other sporting event, so in a sense this is nearly unavoidable.
“It was the same atmosphere on Alpe d’Huez two years ago”. But this spectator was yelling “doper!” at Chris Froome and the liquid couldn’t have been more unwelcome.
They progressed uneventfully but the peloton was reluctant to let them off the leash as the sprinters had some work to do in Valence.
It is disappointing that Froome needs to defend his record so vehemently, but this is the nature of cycling in the modern era.
“So I tried to do the corners as fast as I could, without taking any risks, and when I came out the last one I saw he (Pinot) wasn’t in my wheel and I just went for it”.
Cummings’ MTN-Qhubeka team wore special helmets in Mandela’s honor and met Saturday morning to concoct a winning strategy for the day meant to encourage South Africans to emulate his humanitarian legacy and recognize the decades he spent fighting apartheid.
Up to now Froome has responded calmly to the verbal speculation, and denied that such physical attacks would distract him from battling for a second Tour victory. “Today was great, the support on the road was fantastic”. I wasn’t thinking of victory, just my effort and arriving at the top on the limit rather than blowing halfway up.
There was also another notable performance by a Briton on the stage with prodigiously-talented 22-year-old Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) finishing 10th after fading following an attempt to break away with Bardet on the steepest part of the final climb.
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“It’s a waste. We were looking at each other and Cummings took us from behind”, said Pinot.
