Libertine Seguros said:
If it was possible for Froome to do this clean, and the péloton hasn't had a sudden get-up-and-go-totally-clean, then the question must be asked, why hadn't he even come close to doing this before?
Froome gained less than a minute on Maxime Monfort (with a full TdF in his legs) & Lagutin who aren’t exactly prizefighters. But of course Froome’s results are now (only after seeing today) surprising - even given the fact that the competition here isn't strong (given the poor performances of the favourites and those who attended the Giro).
Dave Brailsford was interviewed after Froome took the red jersey and instead of a fully staunch defence basically said (paraphrasing):
"his numbers show he has the ability when climbing or time trialling on any given stage, but what he has never managed to do is string consecutive days of such performances together".
In short, Brailsford was also refusing to state that he wasn't surprised. The TV coverage spin on that was that, by being forced to work with Wiggins (who is very methodical in eeking out his energy reserves) Froome has learnt how to ride with his head and hold something back. I'm not saying that is fair observation, I'm merely putting it up there.
If Sky develop any suspicion about Froome I think he'll be dropped like a stone. It would be totally disasterous for their project if Team Sky got a positive test at this early stage. They’d be utterly discredited and the UK public & media are generally far less tolerant of doping than appears to be the case in some other countries (for example, when the Spanish Prime Minister, having never stepped inside an abbatoir or a laboratory publically defends Contador).
There is nothing the UK media would like more than to give a competitive UK rider with a positive test an absolute kicking (well, the papers that weren’t owned by News International at least). Generally in the UK, the media is very open about telling, for example, 100m sprinters who are caught doping to p*ss off.
I must confess I am very surprised that after his daily efforts on behalf of Wiggins, Froome has managed to stay within a minute of Cobo on the stage (although its hard to tell to what extent Cobo was actually pushing himself as it all looked so easy (compared to Froome and Wiggins deliberately zig-zagging before the camera bike fell)).
With virtually every major contender underperforming so dramatically though I’d say the jury is still out on Froome for me rather than overwhelming suspicion. Particularly given the breakdown of his interrupted cycling development outlined by others in this thread.