Froome and a matter of trust
CHRIS FROOME still doesn’t get it. Returning for his first race of the season, he dismissed the reaction to his failed drug test last September. ‘It’s been hyped up in the media,’ said Froome (below). ‘Anyone can see that.’ Actually, what anyone can see is the harm that has been done to the image of British sport by the uncertainty that surrounds cycling. Remember what made British cycling great? It wasn’t just the bravery and brilliance of the athletes. It was our marginal gains. We had the best coaches, the sharpest thinkers, the cutting-edge technology. We would turn up at an Olympics, or the Tour de France, and even our outfits would cause a stir. Better designed, more aerodynamic. Others would cry foul, but we would insist we had done nothing illegal. It wasn’t our fault our technicians were smarter. Sound familiar? Lizzy Yarnold, now undisputed as Britain’s greatest Winter Olympian, hadn’t been on a podium for three months before acing Olympic gold in Pyeongchang. Laura Deas hasn’t claimed a podium finish at all since a World Cup event in January 2016. She won bronze. Dominic Parsons hadn’t been on a podium in five years. Another bronze. It would appear £6.5m of lottery money has brought British skeleton a similar technological advantage to British cycling. Once more there has been considerable controversy about some extraaerodynamic suits. But if they’re legal, so what? If excellent British engineering and invention is at the centre of the success of British skeleton, it is up to the rest of the world to catch up. So perhaps cycling’s saddest legacy is the little voice at the back of your head that whispers you’ve heard all this before. That was all about the suits and the special beds and the marginal gains and then it was all Jiffy bags and therapeutic use exemptions, missed tests, missing records and mysteriously applied medication, until we were no longer sure what we believed. There is no evidence British skeleton is populated by anything more than some very bright people — but the erosion of trust stretches beyond Froome’s sport and cannot be glibly dismissed as mere media hype.