David Millar: It's wrong to throw mud at Chris Froome

David Millar says it is unfair Chris Froome was immediately asked about doping after taking the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.

The issue raised its head in Froome’s first press conference as the Tour leader on Saturday night when he was asked if he was riding clean, with his stunning display on Ax 3 Domaines compared to the tactics of the now disgraced Lance Armstrong’s US Postal team in the late 1990s.

Froome responded in a calm fashion — unlike his Team Sky colleague Sir Bradley Wiggins in similar situations last year.

But Millar, who completed a two‑year ban for doping in 2006, was more forceful on Twitter as he said it was unfair for the team to have “mud thrown at them when they work so hard to do it right”.

Team Sky have always maintained a strong anti-doping stance and last year told all of their riders and staff to sign a pledge to say they had never doped or they would be sacked.

Froome retained the yellow jersey after a punishing ninth stage yesterday, which was won by Dan Martin, who followed in his uncle’s footsteps to become the first Irish stage victor since Stephen Roche in 1992.