was confirmed.....)
I had read a couple of books about him and seen him ride and wanted to believe that he was riding clean...
I wanted to believe the story of how after being diagnosed with cancer and suffering through all the treatment he went back to cycling even stronger and won the Tour de France multiple times....
As my own treatment progressed the Lance Armstrong story kept me going and helped me to see myself continue to ride when my own treatment finished.....
I came up with some riding objectives to aim for and following treatment went on to do some great long distance rides....
When the truth about his doping finally came out I felt really badly let down....
I was really disappointed.....
I know all the signs of possible doping had been there but as I have said I wanted to believe his story and with hindsight I am glad that I did because I gained a lot from it at a difficult personal time...
But I was still very disappointed when the truth came out.....
As time moved along I was impressed by what Bradley Wiggins achieved on track and road.....
There then followed an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing at British Cycling and Team Sky...
It was alleged that a package delivered to Bradley Wiggins at the Criterium du Dauphine in 2011 contained a banned substance. The doctor involved, Dr Richard Freeman, said that it was the legal decongestant Fluimucil.
It appears that due to a 'lack of accurate medical records' held by British Cycling the contents of the package could not be proved and the case was dropped.
There has also been a lot of discussion regarding the fact that Bradley Wiggins had sought therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) to use the banned anti-inflammatory drug triamcinocione for allergies and respiratory issues before the 2011 and 2012 Tour de France and also the 2013 Giro d'Italia...
All of this was enough to create doubt in my mind and again I felt disappointed.
I have followed Chris Froome's career with great interest and have admired both his achievements and his cycling style.
Watching him ride in this years Vuelta really blew me away... I was so impressed by his riding and I enjoyed that race even more that the TDF this year.
But now news has broken that he had returned an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for salbutamol at the 2017 Vuelta a Espana.
The UCI has referred the case to the Legal Anti Doping Services....
Team Sky will need to explain (if they can) the reason for the elevated levels.... If they can't do that Chris Froome could face a 12 month ban and could possibly lose his Vuelta title for 2017....
.........and me....
I again feel disappointed !!!
Yes it is disappointing. What I find hard to understand is that with all Sky's resources that are available to the team, they must know the effect any drug has and as their motto is that they are a clean team, then you would have thought that they would have made a huge effort to ensure that this didn't happen. Why was he allowed to race in the "Worlds" when the authorities knew that he had tested positive.?
ReplyDeleteIts very sad.
@Dave
ReplyDeleteAs you have highlighted, the more you look at it the more questions you find that need answering.....
To use your words.. It's very sad.
Seems that whatever the field, heroes and idols always let us down at some point.
ReplyDelete@Jason Boynton-Lee
ReplyDeleteDisappointing isn't it...!!