Disgusting! Now the French spit at bike star Froome
BARRING a catastrophic late twist in the 2,000-mile race, Chris Froome will glide down the Champs Elysees tomorrow afternoon to claim his second Tour de France victory in three years.
But should he pull off the extraordinary feat, he will also go down as one of the gruelling cycling race’s most unpopular winners amid hotly contested allegations that he is a drug cheat.
Ever since he took the lead in the threeweek race, the Briton has been subjected to unprecedented hostility and even had a cup of urine thrown over him.
Yesterday Froome’s ordeal sank to new depths when a spectator leapt out of the crowd to spit at him on the penultimate competitive stage of the race.
Wearing the race leader’s yellow jersey, Froome, 30, was deep in concentration as he navigated a bend when the bearded thug made his move.
Race organisers will come under intense pressure to protect Froome as he bids to
‘That’s not acceptable’
protect a lead of 2mins 38secs. With internet trolls threatening to unsaddle him over the drugs allegations, which Froome fiercely denies, it is feared there could be an ugly end to the 2015 race.
Last night Froome could not hide his disgust at the latest indignity. He said: ‘That is appalling behaviour. Primarily we are human beings but we are also sportsmen.
‘You can’t come to a bike race and punch riders, or throw urine at them or spit at them. That’s not acceptable.’
After urine was thrown into his face and he was accused of being a drug cheat, his feisty Welsh-born wife Michelle came out fighting on his behalf.
She used Twitter to condemn her husband’s most eminent critics and appeared on French television to defend his honour. After tweeting ‘this is not what sport is about. Completely disgusted’ she faced her own backlash and had to delete her Twitter account.
Supporters of Froome claim that jealousy is the root cause of his abuse, as no Frenchman has won the Tour de France since 1985.
Asked if the threats and insults had got to him, Froome said: ‘ At times you certainly do feel intimidated when a big crowd has it in for you, but there’s nothing you can do but ride on. When the crowd is very thick, it’s just white noise. You can’t distinguish the words, though you can actually feel the alcohol on their breath.
‘But when you pass smaller groups, and you are going slowly uphill, you can certainly hear what they are saying. You can’t block it out.’
Did he fear that someone might emerge from the shadows to assault him? ‘It isn’t uppermost in my mind,’ he replied. His 28-year-old wife – who is 20 weeks pregnant – interjected: ‘Well, it is certainly at the forefront of mine!’
She added: ‘I think Chris manages it better than I do. But when people threaten personal harm, and doing terrible things like throwing acid, well, it’s difficult just to ignore that. I just hope and pray that everything goes wel l for the rest of the week.’
As he prepares for today’s last competitive stage of the race, Froome no doubt hopes that he – and Britain – will have the last laugh in Paris tomorrow afternoon.