Tour de France winner says a data comparison will be published in Esquire
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Chris Froome (Team Sky) gets a gap on his finals on the final climb
Chris Froome reaches out to the fans(Image credit: ASO)
Froome gets a gap on Nairo Quintana after teammate Richie Porte swings off.(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Chris Froome wants a third Tour de France title in 2016 plus the gold medal in the Rio Olympic road race and time trial events(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Chris Froome tried to quell speculation about his performance by releasing some of his power data.
Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde flank Chris Froome on the final Tour de France podium.
Chris Froome has confirmed that the data of physiological testing he performed in the summer will be released on December 3 by Esquire magazine UK.
Froome made the announcement via Twitter on Saturday after studying the courses of the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil. He revealed that sports scientists have recently completed analysis of tests done when he was a member of the UCI-funded World Cycling Centre in 2007 and those done at the GSK Human Performance Lab in August. Froome's announcement followed a contentious Twitter exchange between his wife, Michele, and journalists Matt Slater and Paul Kimmage regarding a delay in the data's release.
Froome and Team Sky again came under fire during this year’s Tour de France when data purportedly showing Froome’s power, cadence, and heart-rate values from his stage-winning ride on Mont Ventoux in the 2013 Tour was posted online and later made into a video. The video shows how Froome’s values fluctuated in real time and has been used on social media to question whether his performance was credible. Team Sky suggested their training systems could have been hacked but this was quickly denied by French expert Antoine Vayer, who said the data was leaked.
The posting of the video came before Froome surged clear of his rivals on the first mountain finish to Pierre-Saint Martin in the Pyrenees, setting up his overall success.
French performance expert Pierre Sallet and former professional Laurent Jalabert questioned Froome’s performance, with Froome then suffering abuse during the race, when a cup of urine was allegedly thrown at him during a stage. On the second rest day in Gap, Team Sky revealed a series of numbers concerning Froome’s physiological performances, especially on the Pierre-Saint Martin climb. However, the accuracy and truth of the data was later questioned.
During the Tour de France, Froome questioned why he faces more scrutiny that other previous Grand Tour winners.
“I wouldn't say they need more scrutiny but I've got to admit it's frustrating to an extent that if you look at last five Grand Tour winners, there's not the same outcry for data and numbers. We didn't see it with Contador, we didn't see the same level of questioning. I don't really understand why it seems to be such a hot topic in the Tour de France because I won a mountain stage (to La Pierre-Saint-Martin in the Pyrenees) by 59 seconds. It just seems strange to me.
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"I do understand where the questions are coming from, the history of the sport and the people before me who have won the Tour. I am sympathetic, but at the same time there needs to be a certain level of respect also. I've worked extremely hard to get here. I'm not going to let anyone take that away from me."
