BBC fawning over Froome the ‘untouchable’ is such an embarrassment
ONLY last month the BBC were exposing Lewis Hamilton, for failing to pay £16.5million in tax on his private jet, and door-stepping actors at their own Glasgow offices. For that, in particular, they deserved enormous credit. But BBC Sport too often lack the stomach to stand shoulder to shoulder with their news colleagues and so it proved again here last night when they focused on two of the leading contenders for the main prize. Hamilton’s tax issues were conveniently ignored, and perhaps there was no surprise there. They had nothing to do with his fourth world drivers’ championship. But the film reflecting on Froome’s ‘historic’ year must have had some fine BBC journalists squirming with embarrassment. Last Wednesday it emerged Froome had failed a drugs test at the Vuelta a Espana and he is now fighting to save his reputation. But clearly nobody at the BBC thought it prudent to re-record the segment that celebrated Froome’s fourth Tour de France title and the victory in Spain that followed. ‘Unflappable, untouchable, unbeatable,’ declared the actor Stephen Graham. ‘You want more? How about history, how about back-to-back victories? The greatest of a generation, the greatest Briton ever to ride a road bike. No ego here, history man, family man.’ But recent history gives us a problem. Recent history says Froome was double the
permitted limit for an asthma drug and, unless he can provide an explanation considered acceptable to the International Cycling Union, he will be stripped of that Vuelta title and banned. It meant there was an elephant in the room when the programme went live to Mallorca, where Froome, on a Team Sky training camp, was waiting patiently to give an interview. Clare Balding was entrusted with the task and did at least raise the issue of the adverse analytical finding in her second of three questions. ‘I do completely get it,’ said Froome. ‘I understand the concerns. I’ve been a bike rider for 10 years, and I know how some people might look at our sport. That’s a responsibility that I take really seriously. ‘I’m an asthmatic and I have been since I was a child. I have a puffer to help me manage my asthma. I’ve never taken more puffs than I should. ‘This is quite a horrible situation. We’re working as hard as we can to get to the bottom of it.’ But Balding then asked Froome what happens next, in a manner that was way too ambiguous and offered the 32-year-old cyclist an escape route he was only too happy to take. He started to talk about the training camp in Mallorca, then his plans for riding in the Giro d’Italia next spring. One hoped, indeed one almost begged, Balding to interrupt her interviewee and explain that he had misunderstood the question. Come on Clare, tell him you wanted to know what happens next in the bid to clear his name. Balding, however, did nothing. Balding stayed silent. Balding stood next to Gary Lineker and Gabby Logan, let Froome finish and thanked him for his time. In fairness to Balding, the video represented the more serious dereliction of journalistic duty and the greater embarrassment to the corporation. Because it would not have been difficult to re-package and make reference to the headline news of the last week. A few hours in an editing suite just to tell the story. In Froome’s case, the whole story.