Olympic champion fails drug test
Froome still has a drug case hanging over his head...so why on earth has Brailsford brought him here to race?
MAYBE the sevenfigure appearance fee makes it all seem worthwhile. And maybe — it’s a big maybe — Chris Froome will escape a ban for failing a drugs test last September and feel vindicated in his decision to contest the Giro d’Italia.
But yesterday here in Jerusalem the wisdom of Team Sky’s decision to bring Froome to this race looked seriously questionable, however much he wants to become the first rider since Bernard Hinault to hold all three Grand Tour titles simultaneously.
What a mess. Some 90 minutes before Team Sky’s press conference, Tom Dumoulin, the defending Giro champion, made the point that his Sunweb team would have withdrawn him from the race because they, unlike their British rivals, adhere to the code of the Movement for Credible Cycling.
He also said it was not good for the sport that Froome was racing when his case remains unresolved.
But worse would follow when Froome then had to sit with his team-mates while his boss, Sir Dave Brailsford, was asked if he would have to sack his principal rider should he be made to serve a suspension for an anti- doping rule violation. Brailsford refused to provide an answer, insisting it was neither the time nor the place, but the fact is the team’s zero-tolerance policy suggests he would have little choice.
Brailsford looked particularly chastened in his first big press conference since the publication of a parliamentary report that accused Team Sky of abusing the medical exemption system to use performance-enhancing drugs.
Sweating heavily and sitting at the end of the table, as opposed to his usual position front and centre, Brailsford was evasive when it came to questions about the parliamentary report as well.
He was asked if he has considered his position since the Digital, committee verdict. Culture, And delivered to that, Media their at and least, damning Sport he offered a response. ‘I think anybody in this game considers their position every day,’ he said.
‘I’m constantly asking if I’m the right man to lead these guys. My role is to help these guys, not just to perform but to perform optimally, and there’s a difference. I think that regardless of the DCMS or anything else there’s a constant sense of self- questioning about whether I’m appropriately placed, or do I have the right skills to do that. It’s something you ask yourself all the time. ‘I’m here because I think I am still in the position where I can help these guys be the best they can be.’ He also said changes had been made since the DCMS report, although say what they he was were. not prepared to Froome handled himself with composure and a steeliness that has been at the heart of all those victories. Few athletes are more hardnosed than the 32-year-old, and he made no apology for his role in the situation cycling finds itself in when the delay to a resolution has been caused by the ongoing legal battle between Froome’s representatives and the anti- doping authorities.
‘I know I’ve done nothing wrong and there’s nothing that says I shouldn’t be here racing,’ he said as he looked ahead to tomorrow’s prologue, with the first three Giro stages being held here in Israel.
‘I can understand the frustration. This whole process was meant to be confidential and we’re going to respect that. I need to demonstrate that I’ve done nothing wrong and that’s what I intend to do.
‘A lot of people are frustrated by the lack of information but it’s a process that was meant to be confidential. I’m confident people will see it from my point of view when all the details are out there.’
He was asked if he was concerned that this could be his last race for a while. ‘No, no, no,’ he said. ‘Mentally, I’ve put all that aside. For me to get to the start line, thinking about winning this race, I’ve put all that aside.
‘I’m not thinking about July (the Tour de France). I’m thinking about giving my absolute best for the next few weeks.
‘That’s a huge motivation (to win a third consecutive Grand Tour) and it was part of my decision- making process in coming here.
‘I can’t remember the last time a rider won three Grand Tours consecutively like that, so it’s a huge motivation.’