Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WHITER THAN WHITE?
Froome has nailed his colours to the mast but again faces a battle to win over doubters and topple rivals
WHITE knight Chris Froome launches his crusade for a fourth Tour de France crown here today modelling Team Sky’s new kit.
But if there was a subliminal message behind Sky’s change from their old black strip – trust us, we’re whiter than white – they can pull the other one. Froome is an impressive character who insists his Yellow Jersey triumphs will stand the test of time, and there is no evidence to suggest we should not take him at his word. But it will take more than a dip into the rag trade to disperse the clouds of suspicion which linger over Team Sky and their principal Sir Dave Brailsford. When Brailsford christened his project in 2010 on a manifesto of racing clean, he sounded like a reality TV show – the only way is ethics. He even refused to join the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC) claiming Sky’s standards were higher than the teams who had signed up to it. But since Russian hackers Fancy Bears revealed Bradley Wiggins was given jabs of a banned corticosteroid before three Grand Tours, the clean team has become a demeaned team. In each case, Wiggins was granted permissible Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE), although it breached Sky’s sacrosanct no-needles policy. And when Froome, who yesterday signed a threeyear extension with Team Sky worth £4million a year, hits the road, starting with a short, sharp 8.6-mile time trial along the Rhine, he will discover whether fans have accepted Sky’s disingenuous flirtations with the rulebook. In previous years, Froome has been spat at, showered with urine, verbally abused and seen a team-mate punched by hooligans at the roadside. He gained huge respect 12 months ago when his £10,000 Pinarello was written off in a pile-up on the slopes of Ventoux, and he had to run up Brokebike Mountain (below) until a replacement arrived on the Team Sky support vehicle. Froome believes he will be afforded courtesy, probably because his own reputation has not been contaminated. But he will defend the fabled maillot jaune with UK Anti-doping still looking down the back of every sofa for the proverbial smoking gun. Froome said: “Most of it is to do with stuff that happened five or six years ago and doesn’t involve a
lot of people on the team now. From a personal point of view, my faith in the Team Sky machine has not changed. I believe we will have the strongest group of nine guys in the race. “I’ve still got every confidence in the team, on and off the bike, and although there was a lot flying around in the media in the early season, our focus hasn’t changed much inside the team. “Dave created this team and it has been successful because of his leadership. I don’t have any questions in that respect.” When Brailsford was under the most intense scrutiny, Froome declined a team request to express public support for their boss on social media, instead tweeting his approval of a restaurant meal. Hawks interpreted the gesture as the defiant act of a man distancing himself from Brailsford, but he said: “What I put on social media or in the public domain is not necessarily a reflection of how things are within the team. I don’t see myself as being defined by tweets – I would prefer to be judged on my performances on the bike.” Froome says this year’s Tour, with only 24 of the 2,199-mile course devoted to time trials and just three summit finishes in the mountains, as “my toughest challenge yet in terms of the route and suitability of the terrain”. Britain’s three-time champion is the bookies’ favourite and if he stays upright, he is likely to vindicate their faith. Froome is last man down the ramp at 6.32pm local time and, if the forecast rain is kind, he could steal vital seconds on some of his general classification rivals. Like his new Team Sky kit, he will have to hope it will be all white on the night.