Libertine Seguros said:
Au contraire. You do not see how it can only be explained away by the use of PEDs.
If you can't see how the use of PEDs is one potential reason for such a transformation, then in the words of Jan Ullrich, I can't help you.
The bilharzia probably did affect his development prior to August 2011. But don't you think it's incredibly... well, convenient that the bilharzia cleared up just when his contract was due and wasn't going to be renewed (by a British team who had staked a lot on having a British GT winner, which Froome had apparently shown the capability of being, no less)? You'd have thought that, having a potential British GT winner on their hands, Sky would have locked the guy in. After all, by waiting until he came 2nd at the Vuelta, they suddenly had to pay him a bunch more, rather than getting him on a cut price, the same as how Mark Cavendish was still on a wage he'd signed up for in 2007 until last year. And you don't think it's then convenient that he would, after a month of being the best cyclist in the world, then contract that same illness throughout the offseason and early season, thus excusing him for being invisible for the first half of the year, only for it to then clear up just in time for him to get into péloton-destroying form ahead of destroying the field at the Tour?
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Well they were sure waiting a long time for Froome to show signs of his capability at the highest level and even if you have such a great talent you are going to eventually let him go if he has not contributed anything to the cause and has not shown signs that he will start to contribute and transform into what they believed he could become.
It also seems like you do not understand Bilharzia, as far as I know once you have contracted it is it close to impossible to eradicate it from the body and therefore it will stay with you for life. In fact the parasite can hide in your body for a sustained period of time and you will not in fact realise it and indeed it comes back later on. It is very likely that Froome will be affected by it again and therefore he most likely will have to take sustained medication which he takes in the first half in the season. Effectively he takes heavy medication throughout the early part of the season to supress the disease and as far as I know this may impact on his early season performances until he manages to find a better way to manage the disease.
Also I find it rather difficult to believe that Froome has framed the whole Bilharzia thing because in fact the UCI in fact found it within his blood in late 2010 when testing him and if not for that it would have not actually been found. He was carrying it around for a sustained period of time and indeed even he himself does not know when he originally contracted it.
In a strange way it is very thankful that he is a professional cyclist as otherwise he would have been continually effected by the parasite and he would never have known any better. Indeed for those who deny him having Bliharzia 40% of Kenyans contract it so it is certainly likely he managed to contract it.
This year for example he was re-tested in March and it was found that indeed he still had the parasite, therefore he was required to take the medication. See this by his GF
After being tested for Bilharzia in March they found it was still positive. He then started the medication in April, which took him off the bike for another week. This was obviously critical training time ahead of the Tour. At that point Chris had serious doubts as to whether he'd be ready to even ride
It is a constant thorn in his side and from what he implies:
I've been receiving treatment for two years now. For the first half of the year I take heavy medication to suppress the disease, but when you are diagnosed with bilharzia you never lose it,” he said.
It may be something which will also run its course this season as well.
What I do not know is whether he would take that heavy medication to supress the disease if they do not find the Bilharzia in his system this time round. Indeed his GF confirms that it may still be lurking atm when she posted on VR recently:
And yes, he definitely has been struggling with bilharzia... he is due for another test to see if it's cleared his system.
So LS it may be coincidence but due to the nature of Bilharzia I would say it is not all that much of a surprise that resurfaced and when it did. Especially as rather than actually effecting all that much in 2011 I believe that it was not as bad, but rather it required treatment and therefore he was forced of the bike for some time in April due to the treatment.
In terms of his original Bilharzia he found out about it at the turn of the new year in 2010 (this can not be disputed) and then it seemed like he needed to remove it from his system. His results do show an improvement with decent performances in Suisse and it would be fair to say that he was slowly shaking it off due to his treatment. In terms of the time line it makes sense as you would assume from identifiying it at the New Year it would then take him some time to first come up with a solution and then to use it and peak for the Vuelta at the end of the season.
What's galling is that some of the people who swallowed Froome's story whole were throwing darts at Juanjo Cobo.
Agreed
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