Tour de France leader Chris Froome faces doping questions on rest day

Chris Froome never lost his cool. But he was clearly dismayed by the repeated questions about doping.

Of course, he would rather have spent Monday’s rest day talking about his monstrous lead going into the final week of the Tour de France. But the British rider instead found himself giving thoughtful answers to one question after another from reporters about widespread speculation that something other than hard work and skill is contributing to his dominant performance.

“I just think it’s quite sad that we’re sitting here the day after the biggest victory of my life … quite a historic win, talking about doping,” said Froome, who became the first Brit to win Sunday’s stage, a mammoth climb on Mont Ventoux in Provence. “Here I am basically being accused of being a cheat and a liar and that’s not cool.”

The fact that Froome is leading by more than four minutes with six stages remaining has led to intense debate on social media, cycling blogs and in mainstream media. Much of that likely has been fueled by the recent admission by Lance Armstrong that he doped to win all seven of his Tour titles.

“To compare me with Lance, I mean, Lance cheated,” Froome said. “I’m not cheating. End of story.”

Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford came to the defense of Froome and all his riders.

“Every day we get asked the same question and I can assure you that we are thinking very, very hard about the optimal way of proving to you guys that we’re not doping,” Brailsford said.

He added: “You tell me what would prove it for you, what could we do so that you wouldn’t have to ask me the question? Instead of saying, ‘Dave, how are you going to prove to us you’re not doping?’ which isn’t the greatest question to ask, why not think collectively, what would be the best methodology possible to prove beyond reasonable doubt that we and Chris aren’t doping?”

“I’m not sure I’ve got the answer to that. But I think collectively if we thought about it maybe we could come up with an answer.”

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