Team Sky and Brailsford claimed not only to be clean but transparent, we are a new type of British cycling team not sullied by these shady continental practices, we are going to do it by using “aggregation of marginal gains” which basically was looking for all the 1% improvements that no one else was using, so Sky laughed that nutrition wasn't being taken seriously, the continentals eat Nutella we take nutrition seriously, they invited journalists to observe how clean they were.
But there were lots of unanswered questions, when Paul Kimmage ex-professional cyclist and massive anti drugs campaigner was embedded in the team the relationship with Brailsford quickly broke down, yes they brought in David Walsh but while he had endured years of abuse for his principled opposition to Lance Armstrong there was a feeling he wasn't asking some of the questions that he might of in his younger days. When journalists have asked about the total lack medical records after the convenient loss of a laptop that was the only place the cleanest team supposedly kept all there medical records, the ordering of testosterone patches, why Sky ordered so much triamcinolone, the dodgy packages being delivered by hand by a member of British Cycling from Manchester of a claimed drug you can buy over the counter in any french chemist, Brailsford proved anything but transparent it was like watching US Postal rather than clean transparent Sky.
The aggregation of marginal gains never really added up, the idea that the 'continental' teams were living in the dark ages spooning down Nutella by the jar was jingoistic and laughable, this was a highly technical sport where riders would ride for various teams and anything Sky was doing or any other team that gave advantage was quickly taken up by other teams and marginal gains would be negated as everyone was onto it. Cavendish wouldn't eat and sleep right while at Sky then go and eat take aways and stay out all night when he went to Dimension Data. No doubt Sky threw money at cycling, the Man City of cycling but that bought high quality riders to act as domestiques to protect their principals.
But the thing many cycling fans couldn't square was that most Grand Tour riders have been outstanding at every stage of their careers, they have won everything as juniors, they have a palmares that predicts they'll become great standout riders, when EPO was prevalent this wasn't the case, riders would dope and their body would be susceptible to big improvements and average or good riders would suddenly become exceptional out of nowhere. Froome comes out of nowhere and Wiggins is a track rider who is average domestique next minute they are unbeatable. After Armstrong of course questions will be asked.
Sky are massively tainted and people like Dave 5516 have been arguing this for years, Sky at best have won the TDf with a rider who was using a steriod performance enhancing drug, that allowed you to lose weight and maintain power, even if that is down to Asthma there are other treatments why use the performance enhancing steriod before the TdF and it stretches credibility that Froome has so much sambutamol in his system through taking too much inhaler, anyone who saw him in that Ruta de Sol raised their eyebrows his acceleration up the last climb looked like he was on a powered motorbike.
Britain likes to think its only nasty foreigners who take drugs but drugs taint cycling because of the money in the sport and the incredible feats of endurance cyclists are supposed to put their bodies through routinely. Sky are tainted.
