Fri, Jul 17, 2015 page20

• Sky riders protect Froome’s Tour lead

  COW HAZARD: Frenchman Warren Barguil was dodging cows on a fast downhill section, while Pole Rafal Majka triumphed on the second stage in mountainous terrain

  • AP, CAUTERETS, France
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  Tour de France leader Chris Froome understands those who harbor doubts about his dominant performances in a sport long marred by doping.

  Maybe, he says, it is time to bring in an independent specialist to test his body and help prove that he is riding clean.

  The 30-year-old Briton cruised through a second day in the Pyrenees mountains on Wednesday, finishing more than five minutes behind Stage 11 winner Rafal Majka of Poland, but keeping his main rivals in check.

  

  The peloton climbs the Tourmalet Pass during stage 11 of the Tour de France from Pau to Cauterets in France on Wednesday.

  Photo: Reuters

  The bumpy, grueling ride under a hot sun came a day after Froome blew away the pack, prompting new suspicions about doping. Ironically, it came as Lance Armstrong — who was stripped of seven consecutive Tour titles — was to return to French roads nearby, even though he is persona non grata at the Tour de France.

  Armstrong was to take part in charity rides yesterday and today to raise money to fight leukemia, taking the same route that Tour riders are to cover a day later.

  Froome brushed off Armstrong’s visit as a “non-event,”

  “He’s not on the start line with us,” Froome said.

  However, Armstrong’s presence is a reminder that any Tour leader can expect to come under at least some suspicion. To deal with that, Froome is willing to take testing even further.

  “I’m open-minded to potentially doing some physiological testing at some point after the Tour, or at whatever point suits,” the Briton said. “Obviously, there would be some interesting things that come out of it, and maybe as a team we might even learn something from it.”

  Speaking to French TV, Froome said he does “sympathize” with people who have their doubts about him, adding: “It’s a normal question to ask” given the sport’s history.

  He emphasized his hard work — sometimes from 6am to 10pm — and decried a “lack of respect” shown by some.

  Arriving in France on Wednesday, Armstrong acknowledged to British broadcaster Sky News that he bore some responsibility for the spotlight now being trained on the Briton.

  “I know what it’s like for a guy like Chris to be in the middle of a Tour to deal with the constant questions, which of course he is. And to be fair and to be honest to him, a lot of that is my fault,” Armstrong said.

  However, Froome and his team are ready to take on the skeptics.

  “Best moment of my day was stopping to have a chat to a guy calling me a doper on the way way back to the bus,” Sky’s Richie Porte — a key mountain guide for Froome in the race — tweeted after Wednesday’s stage.

  The Australian went on to use an expletive suggesting that he had scared off the critic.

  The day’s win went to Majka, a 25-year-old Pole whose solo breakaway left behind a small group of rivals. The victory was the first for his strong Tinkoff-Saxo team and offered some redemption for the squad whose leader, two-time Tour winner Alberto Contador, has been struggling in this year’s race.

  Majka presented little threat to Froome. He had begun the 188km stage from Pau to Cauterets more than 44.5 minutes behind the leader.

  Majka, who last year won the polka dot jersey for the race’s best climber, burst out of a breakaway bunch on the way up the Tourmalet Pass — the highest and most frequently visited Tour peak in the Pyrenees — and was the first over it.

  The results had little impact on the overall standings. Froome leads Tejay van Garderen of the US, who is second, by 2 minutes, 52 seconds, while Nairo Quintana of Colombia is third, 3 minutes, 9 seconds back. Contador is sixth, 4 minutes, 4 seconds off the Briton’s pace.

  Defending Tour champion Vincenzo Nibali trailed more than six minutes behind Majka, again losing time to Froome.

  Many seasoned race observers say it will take nearly a miracle for Froome’s main rivals to topple him before the race ends on Paris’ Champs-Elysees on July 26.

  Appropriately enough, stage 11 took the pack into the Roman Catholic shrine town of Lourdes, made famous because of a peasant girl’s reported visions of Mary the mother of Jesus more than 150 years ago.

  Livestock on the sun-baked, grassy mountainsides offered their own hazards for the speeding racers. France’s Warren Barguil had to gingerly veer to the edge of the road on the fast downhill route from the Tourmalet as a pair of cows meandered across the road.
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