Froome's data release won't convince the doubters

One can’t help but feel sorry for Chris Froome. By winning the Tour de France he alienated a section of cycling fans to such an extent they felt the need to throw urine, and frequently spit, at the yellow jersey as he cycled past, utterly convinced he was cheating.

Obviously furious with this turn of events, Froome wasn’t content with just passing drugs tests, he went further in conducting independent testing of his own to prove to those that still doubted him that he was clean.

The results of these tests have been published in Esquire magazine, but better than that they have been submitted to a scientific journal for independent analysis.

That’s two lots of independent analysis.

Dr Jeroen Swart, the man who conducted the tests, evidently thinks Froome is clean. Are we seriously going to suggest that after an independent scientific body have also reviewed the data in full for publication that there is still doubt in their results?

For me, Froome has done enough to prove his innocence. Not only has he had David Walsh embedded on his team bus during the 2013 victory, he has released independent data, and in general has been open and honest when questions were asked.

Though I have been convinced, many doubters won’t be. These would be the people that feel the need to spit and throw urine at riders, but also casual fans who feel Froome’s dominance is just too suspicious.

The fact that he won’t convince all of us, however, is not an indictment of Froome and his attitudes, it is an indictment of the sport as a whole.

The trust has gone. Fans don’t trust the UCI to catch a cheat when there is one. Brian Cookson has done his best during his reign as president to restore integrity to the organisation, but this is still going to take time.

In the meantime, there is something the peloton as a whole can be doing: release their data. If everyone released data and blood values, there would be at least a modicum of transparency and solidarity.

For instance, why hasn’t Alberto Contador been pushed to release data? This is a man who has been banned before, and yet when he won this year’s Giro d’Italia there was no urine thrown or saliva discharged in his direction.

And what about Nairo Quintana? He was under a minute off toppling Froome this July, and if he hadn’t lost time on Stage 2 it could have been him defending yellow up on Alpe d’Huez. Yet the Colombian hasn’t had to release any data to prove that he was riding the Tour clean.

Froome is the target of all this abuse simply because he won the biggest prize in cycling.

A former doper wins the Giro d’Italia? No problem.

But a man who has never tested positive and has constantly released data and information to prove his innocence winning the Tour de France because of one dominant day in the mountains? Please, he must be doping!