Furious Froome: I’m not a cheat

Chris Froome finally lost his patience today over questions about doping after he was forced to defend himself in the wake of the biggest win of his career.

A fantastic ride by the Briton yesterday saw him claim the punishing 15th stage to Mont Ventoux and extend his lead in the Tour de France to four minutes and 14 seconds with just six days remaining.

But the performance on one of the most feared climbs in world cycling was last night compared on Twitter to those of Lance Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour titles last year after his wide-scale drug-cheating was exposed.

At a Team Sky press conference today, Froome was upset to be facing the slurs.

“We’ve been working our asses off and here I am basically being accused of being a cheat and a liar — that’s not cool,” said the 28-year-old. “I just think it’s quite sad that we’re sitting here the day after the biggest victory of my life, a historic win, talking about doping.”

He then stressed: “Lance cheated. I’m not cheating. End of story.”

His demeanour was in stark contrast to his reaction to the same line of questioning after his triumph on the first mountain stage of the Tour just over a week ago. Then, when he was asked to confirm he had not taken any banned substances, the 28-year-old calmly replied: “One hundred per cent. I know the results I get are not going to be stripped 10 years down the line.”

Sky’s team principal Sir Dave Brailsford is equally tired of the topic. He told reporters today: “Rather than asking us to come up with some way to prove we’re innocent, why don’t you collectively have a meeting and tell me what would prove it to you?

“It’s a rest day, it’s 10am, and the bottom line is I’m defending somebody who’s done nothing wrong. I’m more than happy to try to find a way to convince you guys that we’re doing nothing wrong but we need a little bit of help.”