Tour de France champion Froome finally backs Brailsford

Three-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome finally rallied to the defence of under-fire Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford on Monday.

Brailsford, the man behind Great Britain’s rise as an Olympic cycling superpower, has been under intense scrutiny but has insisted he will not resign from his Sky post despite being engulfed in rows over both doping and sexism.

British Cycling was already reeling from revelations it mishandled the drugs records of star rider Bradley Wiggins, when Brailsford was labelled “untouchable” in a leaked review publish Friday of how the national governing body handled sexism allegations against a leading coach.

Froome’s relative silence had led to suggestions he was trying to distance himself from Brailsford as the likes of Team Sky colleague Geraint Thomas offered their support.

But a statement issued Monday saw Froome, the Tour de France champion in 2013, 2015 and 2016, offer his backing to Brailsford.

“With respect to Dave Brailsford, he has created one of the best sports teams in the world,” Froome said.

“Without Dave B, there is no Team Sky.

“He has supported me throughout the last seven years of my career and I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunities and the experiences I’ve had.

“By his own admission, mistakes have been made, but protocols have been put in place to ensure that those same mistakes will not be made again.

“I know it will take time for faith to be restored, but I will do my utmost to ensure that happens, along with everyone else at Team Sky.”

Brailsford, speaking at the TirrenoAdriatico race in Italy, told cyclingnews. com last week he had no intention of standing down.

“No. My thoughts are about what’s good for the team and what’s right,” he said.

“It’s important to make sure that you can look at yourself and say that there has been no wrongdoing.”