Froome backs Farah over blood data

Tour de France winner Chris Froome has backed British track great Mo Farah's decision to release blood test data in an attempt to silence sceptics.

Farah, who won Olympic gold medals in 2012 for the 5,000m and 10,000m - is one of eight athletes who have agreed to release their own readings.

His coach Alberto Salazar has faced doping allegations but both he and Farah deny any wrongdoing.

And fellow Briton Froome, who faced constant allegations of doping during his second Tour win last month, believes it's the right thing to do.

"I think for similar reasons during the Tour de France we released some of my power data," he told BBC Radio Four on Thursday.

"It's a step towards being more transparent, to show we don't have anything to hide."

However, Froome said that while the decision might be right for some, it would be wrong to suspect others purely for their reluctance to release their own numbers given the personal nature of the information.

"There's definitely that downside," he said. "I've released all my personal medical information and I'm doing it to show people there's nothing to hide, but I wouldn't want athletes who are not doing that to have a shadow cast on them."

Froome says world athletics' governing body the IAAF must invest more in its fight against doping.

Cycling's rulers the UCI has hugely expanded its anti-doping efforts in a bid to move on from the era associated with the doping-marred years of Lance Armstrong and other riders.

Froome, who claimed the UCI now spends four times as much as the IAAF on its testing program, said: "(The IAAF) is going to have to invest a lot more heavily in anti-doping. That would be a step in the right direction."
Source: AFP