Chris Froome apologises for Team Sky conduct, but backs Sir Dave Brailsford

ByEurosport

Updated 13/03/2017 at 11:52 GMT

Three-times Tour de France champion Chris Froome has belatedly declared his support for Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford.

Great Britain's Christopher Froome (L), wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, and Team Sky director Sir Dave Brailsford (R) drink a glass of champagne

Image credit: AFP

Brailsford has insisted he will not be resigning despite the ongoing UK Anti-Doping investigation into allegations of wrongdoing which has heaped scrutiny on the British squad.

And Froome apologised on behalf of Team Sky's riders for the handling of this episode while issuing his own defence of the British squad established by Brailsford in 2009.

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"I completely understand why people feel let down by the way in which the situation has been handled, and going forward we need to do better," said Froome.

I would like to apologise for this on behalf of myself and the other riders of Team Sky who feel passionately about our sport and winning clean. I believe in the people around me, and what we are doing.

It was recently reported that unnamed Team Sky riders had held internal discussions to consider whether to ask Brailsford to quit.

The former British Cycling performance director later received the public backing of Geraint Thomas and many other riders, although an endorsement from Froome was conspicuous by its absence.

But Froome, the Tour winner in 2013, 2015 and 2016, issued a considered 200-word statement on Monday.

Froome said: "With respect to Dave Brailsford, he has created one of the best sports teams in the world. Without Dave B, there is no Team Sky.

He has supported me throughout the last seven years of my career and I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunities and the experiences I've had.

"By his own admission, mistakes have been made, but protocols have been put in place to ensure that those same mistakes will not be made again.

"I know it will take time for faith to be restored, but I will do my utmost to ensure that happens, along with everyone else at Team Sky."

The UKAD investigation centres on whether anti-doping rules were broken by Team Sky or Sir Bradley Wiggins on the last day of the Criterium du Dauphine race in June 2011.

Team Sky, Wiggins and Brailsford deny wrongdoing over the contents of a mystery package.

Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome

Image credit: Reuters

Five-times Olympic champion Wiggins has already been in the spotlight after it was revealed he received special clearance for three injections of triamcinolone, a powerful corticosteroid, to treat a pollen allergy before his three biggest races in 2011, 2012, and 2013.

However, he would have committed a doping offence if he received a triamcinolone jab at the Dauphine without the required permission, known as a therapeutic use exemption (TUE).

Dr Richard Freeman, the former Team Sky medic, and Wiggins deny it was triamcinolone and say the drug delivered was the legal decongestant Fluimucil, administered via a nebuliser.

This explanation was first aired publicly by Brailsford to MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) select committee in December and the Team Sky boss promised he would provide documentation to prove it.

But earlier this month, in a second CMS hearing, UKAD chief executive Nicole Sapstead said her agency's investigation had found no records to either prove or disprove it was Fluimucil and an "excessive amount" of triamcinolone was kept in Manchester for just one rider.

Sapstead's revelation led the committee's chairman Damian Collins MP to claim the reputation of British Cycling and its professional offshoot Team Sky was "in tatters".

Brailsford last week challenged "inaccurate assertions and assumptions" relating to the UKAD investigation, saying there is a "fundamental difference between process failures and wrongdoing".