The constant cloud of doping suspicion hanging over Chris Froome is the “ultimate compliment,” according to the Tour de France champion.
Speaking from Japan, where he is taking part in the Criterium de Saitama, the Briton looked back on a “frustrating” Tour de France, in which he was bombarded by questions about his performance.
Froome said accusations of cheating — whether by doping or riding a motorized bicycle — could be seen as lofty praise, even though sometimes it does not feel like it.
Photo: Reuters
However, the 30-year-old said the persistent scrutiny makes it tougher for him to perform.
“I definitely felt … that it was an element that made this year’s Tour de France harder. Anyone who is human would have felt more under pressure with what was going on this year,” the Kenya-born Team Sky leader said.
“In a way, getting those accusations is the ultimate compliment, but at the same time I am certainly not taking it as a compliment. It is unfortunate that is what the yellow jersey wearer of the Tour de France has to put up with,” he said.
Froome said that it would be harder to deal with if he was guilty.
“If I had something to hide or I had some elaborate scheme going on then it would really bother me, it would be my whole world crashing down, but I do not have any skeletons in the closet, I do not have anything to genuinely be afraid of,” he said. “Yes, it is frustrating, but you just have to get on with the racing and get through it.”
The atmosphere has been very different in Japan, where Froome spent Friday learning traditional archery — kyudo — and listening to schoolchildren playing the koto, a type of harp.
While the Tour is the most prestigious race in the world, criteriums such as the one in Saitama, north of Tokyo, are more like exhibition races, in which star names charge around short street circuits mostly to raise the profile of cycling in that area.
“Something like this, at the end of the season, it is a lot more low-key, laid-back,” Froome said. “It is actually a bit of fun to come out here with a few teammates at the end of the season and do a race like this.”
Taiwan’s Lee Hao-yu on Friday went 0-for-3 in his MLB debut for the Detroit Tigers against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, becoming the 19th Taiwan-born player to reach the big leagues. The Tigers ultimately lost 1-0 in 10 innings, ending their six-game winning streak. The 23-year-old started at third base and batted eighth for Detroit. He was promoted from Triple-A Toledo ahead of the four-game series against the Red Sox at the latter’s home stadium, replacing injured utility player Zach McKinstry. “Being right-handed, and given our schedule, I think six of the next 12 games are going to
Matheus Cunha on Saturday fired Manchester United toward the UEFA Champions League with a 1-0 win at Chelsea, while Tottenham Hotspur remain in the relegation zone after twice blowing the lead to draw with Brighton & Hove Albion. Chelsea failed to take advantage of a United defense ravaged by injury and suspension as a fourth straight league defeat for the Blues left their Champions League hopes in ruins. United have missed out on the riches of Europe’s elite competition for the past two seasons, but are closing in on a return thanks to an upturn in fortunes under interim manager
Denmark’s double Olympic badminton champion Viktor Axelsen, long a rival of Taiwan’s former world No. 2 Chou Tien-chen, yesterday announced his retirement at age 32, saying back problems meant he could no longer “compete and train at the highest level.” Axelsen, who won gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and again in Paris in 2024, had back surgery in April last year and said he had not overcome his physical issues. “Accepting this situation has been incredibly difficult,” he said in a statement. “But I have now reached a point where my body won’t allow me to continue.” Axelsen retires as one
Italian soccer is at its lowest ebb in nearly 40 years after a wholesale European exodus at club level followed the nation’s failure for the third successive time to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, and compounded a leadership and structural crisis. The exits suffered by Bologna and ACF Fiorentina on Thursday in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League respectively meant no Italian teams are left in European competition this season. Italy’s last remaining UEFA Champions League contenders, Atalanta BC, went out in the round of 16 last month. It is the first time since the 1986-1987 campaign that Italian clubs
RSS