Lance Armstrong blames himself for the constant Chris Froome questioning

Lance Armstrong blames himself at how Chris Froome is being treated over claims that the Team Sky leader might be doping.

Froome has faced multiple questions about whether he and his Team are riding this year’s race clean.

Earlier this week it was claimed that his training files have been hacked. A French blogger posted a video of Froome’s 2013 Mont Ventoux climb on Monday evening with all his data overlaid, suggesting the rider is indeed doping.

The barrage of questioning flared up again after Froome’s dominant display up La Pierre Saint Martin; he blew away his rivals after attacking Nairo Quintana with about 6km remaining on the final climb.

Froome has been bombarded with claims that the Team Sky leader is doping

Lance Armstrong, who has touched down in France to help Geoff Thomas with his onedayahead campaign, has bemoaned his actions nearly a decade ago, suggesting his doping antics is why Froome is getting questioned now.

The former seven times winner of the Tour de France said: “I know what that is like for a guy like Chris to be in the middle of the Tour, to deal with the constant questions, which of course he is, and to be fair and to be honest, a lot of that is my fault.”

After the Tour and before the Vuelta Espana Froome has decided to give himself over to an independent physiological testing in a bid to prove his critics wrong. He has also suggested he will release all his training files he has and let the public wade through them to let them draw their own conclusions, but this hasn’t been confirmed fully by either Froome or Team Sky.

Armstrong continued:  “A lot of people ask those questions, they see his style, they see his performance, they see the time gaps, they see the cadence and they think, ‘This guy is just another one of them’.”

Lance is riding to support his friend Geoff Thomas this week who is the founder of the OneDayAhead of the Tour campaign

We all know the Armstrong story, a guy who tricked the cycling community into believing he was an all-time great but in fact he was part of one of the most ‘sophisticated, professional doping programs the sport had ever seen.’

The Texan seems to be coming to terms with that, saying:

“I feel bad about that. Whoever is winning the Tour de France in 2015 should not be answering questions about someone who won it 10 or 15 years ago. That’s just not legitimate; that’s just not fair.”

For Froome the questioning will continue that is for sure; that is just where we are currently with the sport of cycling.

But as Chris Boardman said on ITV’s coverage of the Tour yesterday, the sport will need at least 10 years of the top riders being clean to stop the repetitive questions of whether or not a rider is doping.

As for Armstrong the American doesn’t really admit when things are his fault – but it is refreshing to see the American talking in that way – time will tell if Armstrong’s perception in the eyes of the cycling community will change.