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Team Sky rule the Tour de France again but will remain unloved | Richard Williams

Chris Froome’s impending triumph cannot mask the unpopularity of a team tainted by the increasing bullishness of Dave Brailsford in the face of legitimate questionsWhen Team Sky changed their jerseys from black to white for this year’s Tour de France, it was a fairly transparent attempt to rebrand themselves as good guys. A line of eight or nine riders in pitch-black uniforms stretching out at the front of the peloton day after day, squeezing the life out of the competition, was never a sympathetic look.So now, as Chris Froome closes to within one 22.5km time trial around the sights of Marseille and one ceremonial parade into Paris of his fourth Tour win in five years, did it do the job?...

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Chris Froome’s Tour de France rivals? Porte, Quintana, Contador and Bardet | William Fotheringham

A three-times winner who might not be quite what he was, a route that offers something for everyone and high-quality contenders may produce a spectacularWhen a three-times Tour de France winner is on the start line in anything resembling a decent state of fitness, forecasts boil down to a simple statement: one man versus the rest. Thus it was with Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong – now disgraced, once perennially dominant – and so it is with Chris Froome, who starts the Tour as the overwhelming favourite, even though he has not yet shown the incisive form of his better years.There is always speculation that the sheer weight of opposing numbers will one day overcome the...

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