Alpe73 said:
gillan1969 said:
Froome's been on borrowed time since Vuelta 2011...he'll eek out career for as long as Michelle tells him....
Nice one.Classic Clinic stuff. If ya can't knock down the rider ... try his wife. True colors shining.
But Michelle has put herself in the firing line, yes
Years of wading in on social media
And not forgetting Exhibit A the infamous Kimmage interview with the Dawg which Michelle insisted on joining as an active participant...
https://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/paul-kimmage-chris-froome-in-the-eye-of-the-storm-part-2-30394950.html
PK: So up until that point (the 2011 Tour of Spain) Sky would have seen you as a domestique?
MC: They knew you had an engine. [ :lol: ]
CF: I have always been aware of the weight issue, but I had always taken it for granted that when I pushed my weight I could get it to about 69 (kg) and that was a good place to be. I don’t think I necessarily thought that I could go much lower than that, and apparently I have. I’ve gone a good three kilos lower which is huge.
MC: He starved himself before the Vuelta, and then he came back to South Africa and that’s when we started dating. I’ve always had a bit of an interest in sports nutrition and my view was that he could still train on more protein and cutting back on the carbs at certain times. And also making sure he wasn’t hungry, so having more meals, more often, things like that.
CF: But smaller portions. Basically, I think I lost the weight for that 2011 Vuelta in an unhealthy way; I was starving myself trying to get the weight off and I don’t think that’s healthy or sustainable. But since I’ve been with Michelle I’ve learned to do things in a . . .
MC: It also keeps your weight more stable throughout the year, so you’re not starving yourself, and then after a Tour you want to eat everything.
MC: The first time I heard about Aicar was when someone tweeted about it during the 2012 Tour. I told Chris about it [ :lol: ]
PK: What about Leinders? I want to remind you (of your description) of ‘Omerta’ in the book: ’No matter what you have seen or what you have heard, you say nothing. If a doping story breaks, you are always surprised. You never heard anything, you never saw anything and nobody ever spoke about it.’ The one thing I find absolutely astonishing about Leinders and his association with the team is that nobody ever worked with him. He spent two *** years with the team and nobody had any dealings with him!
CF: (Laughs) I don’t know what you want to call dealings. Each rider is assigned a doctor on the team and you go to that doctor for your day-to-day problems. I wasn’t assigned Geert Leinders put it that way.
MC: You were with Usher then? Weren’t you?
CF: Ehhhh.
MC: Because when I was looking up the Bilharzia things, you emailed Usher and asked him about somewhere you could get your Bilharzia tested around this area, so . . .
CF: When I’d be on a race with Geert Leinders; I think I did Romandie with him.
MC: And you did the [2011] Vuelta with [Leinders], you went to see him with your skin condition. [ :lol: ]
PK: Richard Freeman (a Team Sky doctor) told David Walsh that your performances had tripped an alarm in his head. He looked at your (blood) profiles and there was no inconsistency. But if you’ve had a parasite attacking your red cells, surely there should be (some inconsistency). Surely that should show up?
CF: I would imagine so. I don’t know what the blood passport looks like. I’ve never looked into it.
MC: I think if there were issues at all, the UCI would have raised it. They’re not going to take it for granted that it was in the media that Chris has had Bilharzia.
CF: Logic says your red blood cells would be lower because your haematocrit is being eaten by those parasites. I’d imagine if there were any changes to my normal (profile) it would probably still be within the parameters so . . .
MC: You definitely weren’t in the advanced stages of Bilharzia.
CF: I was pretty full on.
MC: But you weren’t in the advanced stages, so it wasn’t necessarily going to be eating that much of (the red cells). But it was definitely affecting your performance. [ :lol: ]
PK: What about your ethics? You use the word ‘betrayal’ about Basso and I’m thinking ‘That’s exactly what I want to hear.’ But then I see you at Vinokourov’s retirement party and being photographed with him. So what happens to betrayal?
CF: Yeah, I mean going to Vinokourov’s thing . . . this guy is a big icon in cycling. He has a retirement party here (Monaco),and there’s going to be a lot of influential cycling people here . . .
PK: He’s a *** cheat.
CF: (Laughs) You said that.
MC: I don’t think Chris fully understood that (Vinokourov) had doped.
CF: No, I knew.
MC: Not fully. [ :lol: ]