Also he performed very well under this pressure, so I assume he must be confident of being cleared or just being slapped on the wrists. To perform well while thinking you are guilty and about to be banned wouldn't be easy.
Nope Cheating is when you do something against the rules...like Armstrong Until someone proves he was doing something against the rules then it’s not cheating If the rules are wrong then it’s the ruling body/committee that should be getting hauled over the coals in the press...not the riders that follow the rules
He was tested and found to have double the permitted amount of salbutamol. That's against the rules right there.
Too simplistic If it was against the rules he’d have been banned...I haven’t noticed him being banned?
Lawyers and appeals. Think how much power team sky have. Two other riders who had less in their system were banned for 9 months and a year.
And if he gets banned then I’ll agree he’s a cheat However the rules aren’t just about levels, which is why he hasn’t yet been banned
Well they are about levels. Again I find it strange why posters are so desperate to support him. Armstrong never failed a drug test. It's the most corrupt sport and has been for its existence in regard to drug use. Any whiff of scandal should set everyone's alarm bells ringing. Especially with the team sky bollocks
A recent report claimed that 15% of the Salbutamol tests were false positives and that the test was so unreliable, it was pretty much worthless. Worth remembering that Froome was tested twenty times during that race and only one of those tests came back with an irregular reading. It’s no wonder that people are suspicious, drug taking in the sport has been fife, but it doesn’t mean everyone is automatically guilty.
I’m not desperate to support him, I’ve got no strong opinion about him I do have a strong opinion that the governing body can legalise or illegalise (possibly not a word) anything they want... they’ve chosen to make rules that leave someone who has tested the levels he has racing in one of their most high profile races. It’s their fault. I assume every top class racer is taking something. It’s just they’re all trying to stay as close to the governing body’s acceptable line as possible He’s still racing...they don’t yet think for sure that he’s cheated
A quote from The Guardian coverage “Froome had probably been the most tested rider in the last six or seven years,” emails David W. “With the biologic passport and peeing in a cup 150/365 days a year, one spurious test for an approved inhaler which has virtually zero chance of improving performance as used becomes kind of silly doesn’t it? Can’t we just except he’s one tough man and a great champion?”
Been discussed on here at length, "one spurious test for an approved inhaler which has virtually zero chance of improving performance" that line discredits the whole article for me.
People say why are we so desperate to believe him... Why are people so desperate not to support him and praise him when a) He is currently innocent and has not been found guilty and B) is probably one of the greatest British sportsman of the last 19 years c) Has just won a race when he has no doubt been tested and passed all them tests. I am not desperate to support Froome I just don't base my opinions on hearsay and rumours. I base it on a man been innocent until proven guilty and giving someone the benefit of the doubt. It's worked pretty well for me so far in life.
Yes the point isn't whether you 'support' him or not in some kind of hero worship, hero worship will always end up disappointing anybody. If he's guilty so be it, everyone moves on like they will after he retires or is less significant anyway. But at the same time I don't want someone being hounded down by those who are just annoyed at their success (like the French/Spanish or others), tainting has to be earned by evidence. I also think a lot of this is as much about Sky as Froome, plenty don't like them.
Foolishly I believed the Armstrong Lie, the clues were there I did not pick up on them (If anyone wants to buy a couple of 'fiction books & DVD's?) ~ though I still want to believe Froome, not charismatic like Armstrong or Wiggins, but likeable, if a bit nerdy / boring & does not come across as a liar or cheat ... Sky may be as much at fault,with its unending desire to win at all costs, (& destroying English football with the Premier League) ) Though to ban any health related medication would also be ridiculous ... Giro d'Italia: Chris Froome's Grand Tour hat-trick and the questions that linger ... please log in to view this image Chris Froome has finished on the podium in 10 of his last 13 Grand Tour appearances "What will really go down in history is the way that this race was won," said Team Sky boss David Brailsford after Chris Froome's historic win at the Giro d'Italia. Brailsford said on Sunday that the virtuoso breakaway on stage 19 was the defining moment in a Froome victory that made him only the third man to hold all three of cycling's Grand Tours simultaneously. Others think it is still to come. "It was one stage where he took the race by the scruff of the neck and did this epic ride," said Brailsford. "On 99.9% of times it wouldn't have worked, but it came off. That is what everyone is going to remember this race for." Or will they? A win that changes everything - and nothing The 33-year-old Briton became only the seventh man in history to complete a full house of Grand Tour victories as he wrapped up his maiden Giro victory on Sunday, a win to sit alongside his 2017 Vuelta a Espana and Tour de France successes. But that holy trinity of prizes could be broken up. Froome's victory in Italy followed 2017 success at the Tour and the Vuelta The test in September that showed double the permitted concentration of the asthma medication salbutamol in Froome's system could yet see him stripped of his Vuelta crown. The Giro's organisers believe that he will remain their 2018 champion regardless, but no-one is entirely sure. For now, Froome protests his innocence and the investigation into his case continues. "If you try and strip that out that context, it was a deeply impressive comeback win," said Michael Hutchinson, writer, journalist and 5 live BeSpoke podcast pundit. "But in truth it is difficult to consider this race without all that surrounds it. "His stage win on Friday felt like a throwback to the heroic era of Jacques Anquetil, Fausto Coppi, Eddy Merckx. It was bike racing the way that people like to remember. "But the way that people view the sport has changed. There is so much cynicism about bike racing in general. "That straightforward heroism is much harder for people to accept, given the sport's recent history. "In some ways we have had a Schrodinger's Giro d'Italia - a race that Chris Froome is both winning and not winning. "An enormous amount depends on the salbutamol case. Whether his win is good or bad for cycling as a whole largely comes down to its outcome." Grand Tour victories Eddy Merckx 11 Bernard Hinault 10 Jacques Anquetil 8 Fausto Coppi 7 Miguel Indurain 7 Alberto Contador 7 Chris Froome 6 Whether the win has done anything for Froome's public image is another matter. Jeremy Whittle, the Times cycling correspondent and fellow Bespoke pundit, is not convinced. "It was a spectacular achievement, but whatever he says, Team Sky say, whatever anyone says, people have made their minds up," he said. "They have already made their minds up about whether he is a big cheat or a fantastic champion. "Long-standing fans are so polarised now, for everything he has done in the Giro, we are still in the same position that we were at the start." Next stop, Le Tour? UCI president David Lappartient had said it would be better had Froome been stood down by Team Sky while his adverse findings were investigated UCI president David Lappartient is keen for a verdict to be handed down before the start of the Tour de France in July, but admitted earlier this week that that deadline might not be met. In the absence of any judgement, Froome is free to race in the Tour. He may not. Tour de France organisers - a separate entity to cycling's world governing body - could exclude him. Froome himself might opt to swerve a potentially hostile reception or minimise a possible ban by voluntarily skipping the event. But the lure of becoming the first man in 20 years - since Marco Pantani in 1998 - to win the Giro and the Tour de France in the same year is considerable. "That is the multi-million euro question," says Whittle of Froome's potential involvement. "I would guess he would be there. "He is incredibly resilient to all of the white noise around him. It is remarkable how - as perhaps the most divisive athlete in sport - he does that."
I know it's the Tour de France but I couldn't find the old thread. Anyway Chris Froome is currently forbidden to enter this years tour which starts on Saturday and Sky are appealing. A bit poor from the authorities that they haven't sorted this from last year. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ot...roome-forbidden-riding-years-Tour-France.html
yeah its bollocks aint it- UCI said they would have a decision on his case this week but its **** that they haven taken this long- methinks they want to **** up his prep for the tour as much as possible- they just don't like anyone monopolising their race especially when he's a brit ( well a brit near as dammit)
