Rasmussen: Chris Froome's Giro d'Italia didn't raise a red flag
Michael Rasmussen has come to the defense of Chris Froome, stating that in his view the Team Sky leader’s dramatic Giro d’Italia resurrection and eventual win was credible and believable within the context of the race.
Froome’s startling display on stage 19 of the race saw him not only win the stage and take the overall lead, but put over three minutes into his closest rivals with an 80-kilometre solo break over three mountain passes. Froome had come into the stage fourth overall and over three minutes down on the maglia rosa having conceded time on almost every mountain finish bar the Zoncolan. Froome went on to win the race by 46 seconds over Tom Dumoulin, and although the Team Sky leader is still awaiting a verdict in his ongoing salbutamol case, the Briton currently holds the titles in all three Grand Tours. Since his shock emergence as a stage racing force in 2011 he has won or finished second in ten of the 13 Grand Tours he has started.
“I don’t see his performance at the Giro as a red flag,” Rasmussen told Cyclingnews.
“All the difference was made in one day, and under very extreme circumstances. You had the four-time Tour champion, on one of the hardest climbs in Europe, against riders who had nowhere near the same palmares as him, with weaker teams.”
“I know that people will be surprised with my views on this. I’m very critical towards Team Sky and their mismanagement of their own ethical rules. Trust for them has gone but if you look at the performance of just Froome, it was credible in the sense that I don’t think he cheated any of his rivals. That’s not saying that they’re all doing something but no one can convince me that Froome is riding with an engine in his bike or that he’s on kryptonite. Otherwise you’d not put yourself in a position where you’re over three minutes behind on the 19th stage. Then you’d be leading by five minutes at that point. Winning the Giro by 46 seconds is not something that you can easily calculate after racing for over 3,000 kilometres.”
Rasmussen, who retired in 2013, but was famously ejected from the Tour de France in 2007 while in the yellow jersey, and who later confessed to doping, believes that the events played into Froome’s hands at the Giro and that the race turned on its head because of the tactics and situation on the road.
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