Is British love affair with cycling over?

Iknow that personality can have a big bearing on how the public view their sports stars but even the ones who keep a low profile usually get the credit they deserve. Chris Froome seems to be a bit of an exception. There was a time not that long ago that Britain was obsessed about getting a Tour de France winner and about cycling in general.

OK, Bradley Wiggins became the first UK Tour de France winner, but Froome has gone on to eclipse his one victory and is well on the way to becoming the all-time great in the biggest road race in the world.

At the moment he’s currently battling to a probable victory in La Vuelta in Spain.

But the publicity for him and his sport seems to have fallen off a mountain.

It’s a real shame because you could make an argument for Froome actually being our most successful British athlete of the moment.

And it wasn’t that long ago that the cyclists owned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year trophy.

I suspect that the continuing scandals that won’t go away have had a deep impact on how we view cycling.

You watch and the first thing that crosses your mind is “are they clean?”

The love affair between the British public and cycling may never be the same again. Need to be optimistic over Andy There seems to be a lot of pessimism surrounding Andy Murray’s decision to basically write off the tennis season.

The fear is that he will never be the player he was after he comes back from a few months on the sidelines – or even worse, that he doesn’t come back at all. But I’m a bit more optimistic. People were saying similar things about Federer and Nadal when they were out injured and look how they’ve come back. Del Potro is another who has got back to the top and it would be no surprise if Djokovic is winning grand slams next year.

We don’t know exactly what Andy’s injury is – or the advice he’s been given – but rest and rehab is more preferable to surgery nine times out of 10.

What I do know is he will have the best support team you could ask for and they will have his route back planned to the last detail.

Andy has been such a big part of our lives over the last decade that the chance that it might be all over brings the nation out in a collective panic.

I’ve got a good feeling that he will be proving his doubters wrong again in a few months’ time. In at the deep end We’re in Regina just now for the first tournament of a two-week stay in Canada. It’s been a case of straight in at the deep end – the top 15 world order of merit teams are all competing this week.

I can’t remember a better summer of preparation and, whatever the results here, we won’t let ourselves be distracted from the long-term strategy for our season.

If you keep improving the small things and stick to the process then the victories should follow.

Let’s face it, I’d swap all the wins in the regular season for success in the Olympics in February.

You could make an argument for Froome actually being our most successful British athlete of the moment

Chris Froome is close to becoming the all-time great in the biggest road race in the world, the Tour de France.