rhubroma said:
Sky has chosen to treat Froome's case in the manner of Contador's, by letting him race while betting on his legal staff's ability to exonerate him. It's a risky tactic.
Contador's situation was quite different from Froome's. Alberto was cleared by the Spanish federation, so he had every right to race. The only reason there was ambiguity was because UCI and WADA chose to appeal the decision. I don't blame Contador for continuing plans to race after the appeal, because if he had suspended himself and won the appeal--and having been cleared by Spain, winning at CAS wasn't far-fetched--it would have been too late to participate in the Giro and Tour. Think how he would have felt if he sat out the entire season in 2011, only to be cleared at the end of it. You can't backdate GT wins! Another rationale for racing was that it allowed his legal team to take its time and thoroughly prepare for the hearing; there was no pressure to have a decision by a certain date.
So, no, it was not a risky tactic. On the contrary, it was the least risky tactic under the circumstances, the only downside being the bad publicity of someone racing under a cloud, knowing that the results could be taken away later.
Froome is actually in a worse position than Contador in that respect. Since Contador won at the national level, the burden of proof was not on him at CAS. It was on UCI/WADA, at least, more so than it would be in a conventional doping hearing. In contrast, the burden of proof is entirely on Froome. He is not innocent till proven guilty; he most definitely is guilty until proven not guilty. Unlike, say, Peatcchi and Ulissi, he also caught a major break in being notified of his AAF on his very last day of racing for the season. So he could have provisionally suspended himself without missing any races, and if he was so confident in his innocence, cleared himself in time for the 2018 season. Even if he lost the initial hearing, he might have gotten a short enough back-dated suspension to allow him to race in at least one if not both of the first two GTs.
But even that much risk was too much for Froome, so he wouldn't suspend himself. Again, bad PR aside, it's the least risky move in his situation. The only risk he's taking is declaring that he definitely did not inhale more than the allowed amount; that hurts his chances of a relatively short suspension if he loses his case. Had he just said, maybe I made a mistake, without committing to it, he would be in a much better position to plead negligence if he couldn't explain the high level. Contador took the same risk when he declared that he hadn't used any supplements, and it came back to bite him. It quite possibly cost him an extra year.
S2Sturges said:
This USG test talk just muddies up the waters, a speciality of Sky, diffuse and cast doubts on the process.
On the contrary, it could clarify the situation enormously. Sky is not the one talking about the USG, but I wish they were. We internet warriors are the ones pointing out its implications.