CANCELLING OUT THE NOISE?
If UK coverage of Bradley Wiggins’ therapeutic use exemptions and a mysterious Jiffy Bag has at times lapsed into hysteria in recent months, the foreign media’s scarce interest in Team Sky’s worries heightened a sense that perhaps some perspective had been lost. This shouldn’t fool us; a mood of ambivalence towards Chris Froome and his teammates at best, of enmity at worst, has been palpable at the Tour for at least two years and will be amplified in July. Froome has shown the same survival instincts that are among his most underrated qualities on the bike, picking the right moments to defend his employer and to reassert his independence. The noise from media and hostile fans may become cacophonous in July, but Froome has steadily refined his ability to zone out. Will his teammates prove equally impervious? That is a question they will have to answer, and maybe a weakness that Nairo Quintana and Movistar, in particular, should think hard about how to exploit.