MENDE // Tour de France leader Chris Froome, who has been dealing with doping accusations since hammering his rivals in the first mountain stage, hit out at “irresponsible reporting” after having a cup of urine thrown at him while riding on Saturday.
This followed fellow Team Sky rider, Australian Richie Porte, saying he had been punched by a spectator during Tuesday’s 10th stage.
“Unfortunately there was a bit of a dampener on the stage. A spectator, about 50 to 60 kilometres into the stage threw a cup of urine at me, shouting ‘doper’,” Froome said after he gained more time on his rivals in the 14th stage.
“That’s unacceptable on so many different levels. We’re professionals. I think I said I would not blame the public for this – it really is a minority of the people out there – but I would blame some of the reporting on the race that has been very irresponsible.
“Those individuals know who they are, it’s not all the media – there has been a lot of irresponsible reporting out there that’s unacceptable.”
Doping suspicions have been aired after Froome humiliated his main rivals in the first Pyrenean stage, with French TV pundit Laurent Jalabert, a former Vuelta winner, saying the Briton’s performance made him feel uneasy.
“They set the tone and people believe what they see in the media,” Froome said.
Asked if he was scared by the incident and feared there could be more to come, Froome said: “I’m not scared about this, I just hope it does not interfere with the race.”
Team Sky’s director of business operations Fran Millar wrote on Twitter: “Froomey’s interview saying he had urine thrown in his face by a spectator today. Total and utter disgrace. These people are not fans.
“Repercussions of a minority of people’s baseless and evidence less speculation and innuendo means our riders being punched and urine thrown.
“Watched this race when doped riders got away scott free. Our lads are clean + are facing abuse every day (and yes my brother (David Millar) doped - I know).”
The incident happened on the 178.5-kilometres route from Rodez, which finished at Mende airstrip after the punishing 3km ascent of the Cote de la Croix Neuve.
It was otherwise a good day for Froome as he controlled his rivals in the final climb of Stage 14 that was won by fellow Briton Stephen Cummings for South Africa’s MTN-Qhubeka team.
Colombian Nairo Quintana attacked repeatedly but Froome was confident he would bring him back in time and looked comfortable all day.
“The attacks started pretty quickly in the climb. Quintana was very strong out there. I was happy to ride my own tempo knowing I could bring him back,” he said.
Froome gained a second on Quintana, who is second overall after American Tejay van Garderen cracked on the climb and dropped down to third.
“I have to say that Nairo seems to be the biggest threat to me at this stage, he was really strong up on the climb today,” Froome said.
Meanwhile, Argentine Eduardo Sepulveda’s decision to hitch a short lift in a rival team’s car after a mechanical problem on the 14th stage proved a costly one when he was thrown out of the race.
The Bretagne Seche rider broke a chain 57km from the finish and hopped into a AG2r-La Mondiale car to take him 100 metres up the road to his awaiting team car.
Tour rules forbid any rider to be driven on the route during a stage.
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