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Road Cycling | Sir Bradley Wiggins’ Wife Brands Chris Froome a “Slithering Reptile”

The Wiggins-Froome drama returns...

Sir Bradley Wiggins’ wife Catherine has found herself in the news today for branding Chris Froome a “slithering reptile” after it emerged that he failed a drug test at the Vuelta a Espana last September.

Froome won the 2017 Vuelta, but was found to have twice the permitted amount of asthma drug salbutamol in his system after stage 18 of the race.

Taking to social media, Cath Wiggins posted a picture of Froome riding with the caption: “I am going to be sick. Nothing in the news. If I was given to conspiracy theory I’d allege they’d thrown my boy under the bus on purpose to cover for this slithering reptile.”

The post is most likely prompted by Chris Froome’s less than sympathetic take on Sir Bradley’s involvement in the doping conversation in the last couple of years.

It was revealed in 2016 that Sir Bradley Wiggins’ had received legal injections for Kenacort – a corticosteroid – before three of the biggest races of his career, including his famous victory at the 2012 Tour de France. He was also at the heart of a UK Anti-Doping investigation after a mysterious medical package was delivered to him at the 2011 Criterium du Dauphiné.

Wiggins and Team Sky insist the injections were legal but the story has not been good for Sir Bradley’s name in the sport, and Chris Froome spoke out at the time to say he did not approve of his teammate’s actions, did not believe in a “win at all costs” mentality, and that “the TUE system is open to abuse and […] the UCI and Wada need to urgently address [it]”.

He also added that: “At the same time there are athletes who not only abide by the rules that are in place but also those of fair play.”

The comment from Cath Wiggins was quickly deleted from her Facebook page, but what with this being the internet and all, it was survived by a flurry of screenshots which were shared far and wide across social media.

 

An apology from Catherine followed, which read: “Sorry everyone for my emotional comments and insults. Too much stress has got the better of me. Heat of the moment thing and certainly not my intent to fan any flames.”

Catherine is no stranger to a spat with the Froome family. In 2012 there was a famous Twitter argument between Cath Wiggins and Michelle Cound, the wife of Chris Froome, after Chris was forced by Team Sky to slow down in the Tour de France so that Sir Bradley could catch up and keep the yellow jersey.

Michelle tweeted “teamwork is also about giving the people around you, that support you, a chance to shine in their own right.”

Photo: Wikipedia.org – Josh Hallett

Cath replied by praising Bradley’s Team Sky teammates Richie Porte and Mick Rogers for their “genuine, selfless efforts and true professionalism” while omitting Chris Froome, and further tweets followed between the two.

One year later and the flames were reignited after Chris Froome claimed his first Tour de France win and Michelle spoke out, saying that Sir Bradley and his wife should have “been a bit more classy and sent a message of congratulations.”

Michelle has yet to respond to Catherine’s comments, though we can’t imagine she will be particularly pleased to hear her husband and the father of her child described as a “slithering reptile”.

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