The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Emma O’Reilly must be a fan of The Wire.
Team Sky cyclist Chris Froome destroyed all comers on the La Pierre-Saint-Martin stage in the Tour de France.
The 30-year-old led the way up a gruelling climb to the ski station and still had enough energy to power on with six kilometres to go, win the stage and gain some time on rivals Tejay van Garderen, Alberto Contador and Francesco Nibali.
Such was the sheer, raw power and intensity of Froome’s ride that it immediately led to doubts and aspersions being cast.
Front of the queue was Lance Armstrong, who had his seven titles stripped from him in 2013.
1. Clearly Froome/Porte/Sky are very strong. Too strong to be clean? Don't ask me, I have no clue.
— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) July 14, 2015
There was a slightly more cryptic tweet from O’Reilly, who was soigneur at Armstrong’s US Postal team during the bulk of its doping-tainted years.
The more things change, the more they stay the same!
— Emma O'Reilly (@Emma_OReilly) July 14, 2015
It is a truism and one that appeared in the popular TV show The Wire.
For his part, Froome is said to be keen for his physiological tests to be released, following Le Tour, to prove doubters wrong.
After Stage 10, he commented, ‘I’m at a loss for words. That was unbelievable.
‘I couldn’t believe it when I asked the guys to push hard a little bit and we were hearing on the radio that the big names were getting dropped.
‘It was textbook from the team, the guys rode such a good race. I’m over the moon to be able to finish it off for them.’
