FROOME IN NEW SOAK OPERA! WIGGINS WANTS TRUTH OUT
Froome and race leader Geraint Thomas have shown the patience of saints in the face of provocation by the roadside, and have said nothing to inflame or antagonise the locals.
Thomas said: “I don’t know what it was but I’m not surprised. We’ve had a bit of that but it’s always been water from what I’ve seen.” Va Va Froome made no mention of urine or other vulgarities after Sky’s one-two at the top of the leaderboard remained unaffected by Spaniard Omar Fraile’s (above) breakaway win on the 117-mile stage from Saint-paul-trois-chateaux.
With only six stages left before the largely processional ride into Paris, Thomas is beginning to look a likely winner of Le Tour, and not just Froome’s able chaperone.
He said: “The main thing is that Froomey and I don’t end up racing each other and letting Tom Dumoulin win – then we’d look pretty stupid.
“I’m still thinking the same way, approaching it day by day. Anything could happen with three big days in the Pyrenees to come next week and a hard, hard time trial.
“But I’m not putting any pressure on myself, I’m enjoying being in yellow and I’m trying not to look too far ahead.”
Only Primoz Roglic, fourth on the general classification, clawed back any time on Thomas and Froome as the main contenders traded attacks on the final climb, but the Slovenian only gained eight seconds. SIR BRADLEY WIGGINS has come out swinging over the jiffy bag mystery and claimed people are “bricking it” in case the truth emerges.
Britain’s first winner of the Tour de France in 2012 had his reputation trashed by a Parliamentary select committee last year, which accused him of crossing an ethical line.
Wiggins was also anonymously accused of having banned steroid triamcinolone delivered to him at the end of the Criterium du Dauphine seven years ago.
His Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford and former British Cycling doctor Richard Freeman have both insisted the package contained fluimucil – a legal decongestant.
But the five-times Olympic champion, speaking on ITV4’S coverage of Le Tour, raged: “What a mess. A medical package delivered to Bradley Wiggins? Well, it wasn’t delivered to me – I was racing. I didn’t sign for it off the DHL bloke.
“There are things that have come to light with this whole thing that are quite scary and it’s very sinister.
“I’d love it all to come out. Once it’s all stacked up and pieced together, it’s quite shocking. There are a few people bricking it at the moment, I know that for sure.”