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Chris Froome celebrates winning the 2013 Tour de France (picture copyright Simon Wilkinson:SWpix.com)Chris Froome's training data hacked, says Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford
Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford believes the WorldTour outfit’s computers have been hacked to obtain Chris Froome’s training data in an attempt to prove he is doping.
Brailsford made the revalation at a press conference in Pau yesterday in response to being asked whether Froome can expect to be quizzed over doping now the race has entered the mountains.
He said: “It’s part of the game, isn’t it? If he does well [today], the rest of the Tour it’s ‘How do you know he’s not doping?’
“The question of how to prove a negative is always going to be a difficult one. We think someone has hacked into our training data and got Chris’s files, so we’ve got some legal guys on the case there.
“I would never mention a name but ethically and morally, if you are going to accuse someone of doping, then don’t cheat.”
Froome faced questions over doping during the 2013 Tour de France, which he won, and has consistently maintained that he is riding clean.
The 30-year-old, who is the only current cyclist known to have testified to the UCI’s Cycling Independent Reform Commission, has also said that people on social media who use riders’ power data to try and find clues they may be doping are “clowns.”
Brailsford added: “I used to worry about it a lot more but I don’t any more. It’s part of the game. Just try to be honest, tell the truth, be open.”
Yesterday, a video appeared on YouTube showing the Mont Ventoux stage of the 2013 Tour de France, won by Froome, overlaid with what purported to be the rider’s data.
The latter had apparently been supplied by Antoine Vayer to Twitter user @oufeh – that account has now been deleted, and the video taken down from YouTube.
Vayer, who from 1995 to 1998 was a trainer at the Festina team, raised suspicions Froome and Wiggins Sir Bradley Wiggins shortly before the 2013 Tour de France when he published his e-book, Not Normal? An insight into doping and the 21 biggest riders from LeMond to Armstrong to Evans.
As outlined in a report on VeloNews at the time, he said Froome’s performance the previous year had been “miraculous,” with Wiggins’ yellow-jersey winning exploits at the 2012 Tour merely “suspicious,” according to the scale devised by the author.
Responding to the publication, Team Sky said at the time: “Both Chris and Bradley have received your email and each has considered their response.
“They have been asked many times before about their stance on doping and their approach to performance.
“It’s all already firmly on the record; neither has used banned substances or illegal practices. Team Sky’s approach to conditioning and coaching is also well documented.
“We know exactly how our riders prepare and perform and the true science behind this. And we have our own accurate data that we can rely on to support this.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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53 comments
possibly but we still have EPO positives now but all seem to be from 'lower' riders or Astana !
You will always get risk takers for the rewards. In every sport this occurs and cycling is no different.
For example do you believe Gaitlin is clean ?
Sky say the data is true = it's definitely true
Sky say the data is false = it's definitely true
Sky say nothing about the validity = it's definitely true
They can't win, so they're not saying anything which reduces how much it can be twisted.
Something worth thinking about would be...
If Team Sky had or were doping then eventually, even in 10-20 years, they would get caught by testing retrospectively.
I would have thought that all contracts would have some clause in it somewhere that would allow Sky to sue any Team Sky riders caught retrospectively. US Postal lawsuit on Lance Armstrong.
So knowing this, would the riders in Team Sky take that risk. They could lose vast sums of money and financial assets when they were in their 40-50s and ruin their families.
Worth considering...
I'll post my data, I have gone from 145W FTP to 305W FTP in 10 weeks. Astounding improvement
Until someone is proven to using banned substances, then they are fine by me.
Sorry, i missed the least time Contador and Nibali had their data hacked, mangled and spread across the internet. When was this?
If you cannot see the difference between a 400-odd page dossier compiled by USADA and youtube vid compiled by..... who? (Someone with a grudge? Someone without evidence to go to the authorities?) - then we are never going to agree on this
They don't need to deny. THE DATA IS DIRTY. Who can prove where it really came from, and what edits/manipulation have or have not been performed.
If someone hacked Sky's data to spread onto the internet, then they have an agenda, and a highly probable bias against team and/or rider.
Show me something which will actually stand up in court, and then I'll take notice. Untill then, stop slinging the muck.
WELL SAID, MUST BE MAD, WELL SAID.
Look at what I posted from two years, the data was available then, Sky have not said it is dirty, so why do you ? They are only worried about the so called hacking ....
1)'data' is the plural.
2) `froome is dodgy as hell.
Well Ross Tucker, of Sports Scientists, who spends a lot of time looking at data, analysing it and so on said the data on the video looked extremely accurate. In which case I'll go with the guy with the PhD.
If Sky and other teams are serious about cleaning up the sport's reputation they should make all this data available.
As he also said, it's like Justin Gatlin trying to prevent someone from knowing how fast he runs the 100m in. There's no great advantage to knowing the data, and I presume in his line of work he would know if there was.
Whatever possible disadvantage there might be is more than outweighed by the benefit to cycling of being transparent and open.
Rather different don't you think ? One is highly tactical team sport over massively varied terrain and the other is a fast twitch blast down a straight track. That said, if I were a sprinter or a sprinters coach, i'd love to be able to examine all the competitions reaction times, speed off the blocks, time to full stride and stamina over the distance...
I'd go along with that - it might favour the larger, more resource filled teams though so be could be prudent to keep an eye on that.
Interesting that it appears these figures were used by Grappe and L'Equippe
Hacked ??
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/jul/18/team-sky-chris-froome-data?...
To be fair Brailsford said "We think someone has hacked into our training data and got Chris’ files" - so this could mean more than the Ventoux data which has already been circulated. If the bruhaha is about just the Ventoux data then i'm not sure what the issue is to be honest - that's been dissected already and nothing untoward seen in it.. HR ? Was that there before - there was some talk about the blockiness of that in the data Vayer got along with the debate about HR lag.
on top of that I would find it strange an hacker would not want everyone else's data as well ? If someone believes the whole team is doping ? (I do not).
Does anyone have a link to the data please?
Did you see the video? The guy is SUPERMAN, the best cyclist that ever lived. An inspiration to asthma sufferers everywhere.
This is what happens when you are disciplined enough to give up Nutella and pedal with a fast seated cadence. You can go from 400w to 600w attacks on the Ventoux and your heart rate doesn't need to shift past 161bpm.
When you get to see the video you'll see that Froome is the best rider ever. Even better than Armstrong was.
no idea but if the sport wants to regain trust it has to be open. Why does a rider like Adam Yates publish his data when he is a possible GC contender in the future. I have not seen anyone give a real reason how power data really can help the opposition and certainly not if every rider's data is published.
You can start using basic data mining - who's down on power leading up to races, whose HR is higher, what recovery times are like for riders under what conditions, temperature/slope/wind versus HR/power, riding style, peak power and duration and so on and so on.
I suspect you're right that if everything is open then it might not matter so much, as everyone can potentially do this if they have the time, resources and technical ability to do it - many teams won't though. I'd personally love to see it all mandated to be open but there are some things to consider to do so in a fair and equitable manner.
And no denial that the denial has ever been denied either!! Oh my god the world is about to collapse!
The idea that some armchair internet 'export' with a grudge and no clear background in sports science or biochemistry etc can post something they cooked up in their bedroom from dubious sources and have this treated seriously as 'evidence' is just pathetic.
If there is a genuine concern, they should go straight to WADA, not post conspiracy theory's on the internet.
Contador and Nibali are not treated like this......
yes they are FFS.
Data is fine when used against LA but not Froome, Sky fanboys can not get over this.
If the data was false Sky would have said so, it is not. So one we all agree it is true then the debate is over you interpret it baring in mind Froome two years later is lighter and said to produce more Watts.
I would have said simply winning the TDF is cause for suspicion. If I was Wiggins I would be pleased with that.
“The question of how to prove a negative is always going to be a difficult one. "
It's not. Release data, test results etc. The data that was 'acquired' looks dodgy as dodgy can be.
The first thing to note is no denial the figures are correct.
So I suspect this was a leak not a hack and it just says to me all performance stats should be published. Many now do it voluntary on Strava and it helps. What have the pro's got to be worried about by publishing it ?
Anything that helps the wider debate should be welcomed.
Now we see the figures from two years ago people can debate what they mean.
Eh ? Where on earth is the logic in that ?
A team, any team, is leery about publishing all their data as it's a potential advantage to other teams - Sky, amongst others, have said this for a while and it's not exactly rocket science is it ? That said Sky, and perhaps others - I don't know, have previously let it be known they doshare their data with the anti-doping and relevant agencies. I also have a number of power profiles from Sky riders downloaded from when they published such things from time to time - has that now stopped completely ?
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