National Sport | Cycling: Froome faces the controversy

On the eve of the Tour de France in the Vendée, Saint-Mars-la-Réorthe, a small village in the grove of barely a thousand souls, came out of its calm. Usually the show is a stone's throw away in neighboring Puy-du-Fou, there is the four-time winner of the Tour de France, the Briton Chris Froome, just laundered from his "abnormal" control case with salbutamol during the last Tour of Spain which attracted the crowds. Or rather the journalists in a conference, that the Anglo-Saxons Team Sky have staged with the team sitting all around his leader and manager Dave Brailsford in front of a blue background, at a table topped with black with d one side a car arranged as in a concession and the other a screen, where a video "Ocean Rescue" against the plastics in the seas was broadcast as a prelude.

The British formation did not however discard the questions that flared, first in English but also in French for twenty-four minutes. The Brit confirmed he was "very happy to be here" after confessing that "it was very hard to focus on cycling", even though "I knew I had not done anything". And his manager relayed it: "It was a challenge to defend someone accused of something he did not do to restore his dignity and at the same time maintain it at an exceptional level of performance (in reference to his victory in the Tour of Italy) "

" I love France "

If the International Cycling Union filed this file on Monday, the reactions of distrust did not fail, especially on social networks. So much so that its president, the French David Lappartient produced a video yesterday to call calm on the roads of the Tour de France. In a conference with sometimes well-honed words such as the "exciting challenge of winning a fifth Tour de France", Chris Froome suddenly dropped words from the heart. "I love France and its most beautiful race in the world! In recent days, a lot of information has been published and I would like people to understand. If the fans of the Tour come, they support a team, even if they do not like Team Sky, but they do not bring their "negativity".

Chris Froome then closed in short, firm answers. Before another speech by Dave Brailsford about the consequences of this oppressive context. "It's not new to be under pressure, maybe for other reasons, but we've learned to stay focused on the race." After the media, Team Sky will rub the public of the Great Loop, from Thursday evening (18h) to the presentation of the teams in La Roche-sur-Yon.