Chris Froome says cycling has “turned the page” since the Lance Armstrong era and has offered his thoughts on why the peloton is getting faster.
Froome, four-time winner of the Tour de France, has also reflected on his first year in the peloton and how doping was still present among the professionals.
The Team Ineos leader shared his views during an Instagram interview with former England international cricketer, Kevin Pietersen.
Froome said: “We still have to answer for it. It’s been fifteen years [since Armstrong’s Tour de France victories], but we’re still talking about it.
“That period has damaged the sport, but I really think cycling has turned the page. I don’t think I would have won the Tour de France four times if those things hadn’t changed.”
The 34-year-old looked back on his first year as a pro in 2008, when he rode the Tour de France with his Barloworld team.
That Tour was blighted by doping, as Froome’s team-mate Moisés Dueñas was arrested by French police after testing positive for EPO, while Manuel Beltrán and Riccardo Riccò were both withdrawn from the race due to doping allegations.
British rider Froome, who went on to join Sky Procyling in 2010 and has since won seven Grand Tours, said that cycling is now “in a good place” thanks to innovations like the athlete biological passport, used to track physiological changes in an athlete over time so testers can spot anything suspicious.
Froome has faced his own anti-doping investigation, after he returned an adverse analytical finding for salbutamol after stage 18 of the 2017 Vuelta a España, which he went on to win overall.
Details of the investigation into Froome were leaked to the press and it took seven months before the Brit was eventually cleared by the UCI of any wrongdoing.
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On the lasting legacy of the Armstrong doping era, Froome said: “You have to answer the same questions every year from sceptics, those who don’t believe any achievement.
“The sport is now a hundred times cleaner, but we climb faster than they did at the time.
“The best way to explain that is that we have evolved a lot in the areas of technology, nutrition and ways of training.
“We are better as athletes.”
