The renowned doctor, Richard Freeman, was recently suspended for doping during his time working with INEOS Grenadiers (formerly Team Sky) and British Cycling. This has led some media outlets to question Chris Froome’s four Tour de France victories.
In an interview with Triathlon Diary, the British cyclist defended himself by taking a swipe at the Lance Armstrong era, stating, “We climb faster because we are better athletes. Everything has evolved, and that helps too. We have better technology now, nutrition also helps, and new training methods are another advantage.”
According to him, cyclists now pace themselves during intermediate stages to be able to exert maximum effort in the crucial stages. “We don’t recover as quickly as they do” (hinting at the possibility of prohibited recovery methods). “So, for example, when you know there will be a crucial day in the mountains, the peloton slows down on the preceding days. We all need to ease off.”
Froome is fed up with doping accusations and says it’s “hard” to keep responding to the same allegations. “Even today, we still have to justify what happened, despite it being 15 years ago. I wouldn’t have won the Tour four times if that hadn’t changed.”
“It’s tough to keep answering the same questions and dealing with negativity. We have to face the skeptics, but what can we do? We know we’ve done things right and have nothing to hide,” concludes the British cyclist.