There used to be a time when winning the world’s most famous cycling race was up there among the greatest achievements on the planet, its legendary yellow jersey one of the ultimate symbols of sporting brilliance.

Sadly those days are gone.

Thanks to the dodgy doping exploits of the disgraced Lance Armstrong and a few others, winning the Tour de France today is little more than an invitation to have your ethics called into question.

Chris Froome won the tour last Sunday, his second victory in three years. But instead of people applauding his dominance as he pedalled to success, he was subjected to constant abuse throughout the 21-stage race.

French physiologists went on TV while the contest was taking place to suggest Froome’s performance was ‘abnormal’, and the doubts quickly filtered through to the crowds on the street.

Froome was spat on by spectators on several occasions and even had urine thrown in his face during one of the stages, although he may be mistaken and it might have been a glass of French beer.

Seriously though, what is the point in taking part in a contest that is riddled with doubt and disbelief? Thanks to Armstrong’s serial cheating, people are so sceptical of the sport that they automatically see any above-average performance as evidence of doping.

By their very nature, sportsmen and women try to push themselves beyond the ordinary in their chosen field. They have to strive to be better than their contemporaries in order to win things.

But apparently, in cycling, it is better to be part of the pack than to lead from the front if you don’t want to become a victim of wild accusations.

A decade ago, Froome would have been a legend for winning the tour for a second time. Today he has to walk around under a permanent cloud of suspicion just for being the best at his sport.

Then again, I suppose the fact that he picked up nearly half a million euros in prize money for his win should help him come to terms with any undeserved damage to his reputation and the indignity of being abused by the fans.

I don’t know many people who wouldn’t take the odd glass of wee in the face for a €450,000 cheque…

Wonderful war of words

To say there is no love lost between the current managers of Chelsea and Real Madrid is a massive understatement – Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho hate each other and have done so for more than a decade.

Now Benitez’s wife has poured petrol on the smouldering fires of their mutual distaste by suggesting her husband takes over clubs to clear up the mess Mourinho leaves behind.

This prompted Mourinho to tell Benitez’s wife she would be better off focussing her attention on her husband’s diet – a not-so-subtle dig at his blossoming physique.

Of course, Montserrat Benitez’s words are utter nonsense. Only once has Benitez taken over directly from Mourinho and that was at Inter. Sadly for Benitez, the Special One had just secured a historic treble for the Italian club.

I don’t think there was much mess clearing to be done there, if Mrs Benitez is perfectly honest. And if there was, he obviously didn’t do it very well as he was out of a job six months later.

However, it is interesting how the paths of these two men seem to be interwoven.

Benitez and Mourinho first clashed when the former was the manager of Liverpool and the latter in his first spell at Chelsea. Over the course of a few seasons the pair fell deeply in hate.

Froome was spat on by spectators on several occasions and even had urine thrown in his face during one of the stages, although he may be mistaken and it might have been a glass of French beer

But since that period, it has seemed very much like Benitez has been following in Mourinho’s footsteps, managing Chelsea, then Inter and now Real Madrid. At the first two of those clubs, Benitez had limited success, so it will be interesting to see if he can perform better than his adversary in Spain, Mourinho’s only managerial appointment that can’t be considered a resounding success.

You just know, given their history, and this war of words just won’t go away, that Chelsea and Real are inevitably going to be drawn against each other at some point this season.

Hopefully Benitez will put his wife on the bench for that one.

Nothing but Delph-interest

With all the fuss about Fabian Delph’s on/off move to Manchester City last week, possibly the most important aspect of the whole thing got overlooked: the price.

City signed the England midfielder for just £8 million (€11.38m) after they activated the buyout clause the player had inserted in the contract he signed in January.

I’m no expert on the delicate art of negotiation, but someone at Villa Park clearly isn’t either. Just £8 million for a 25-year-old regular England international who also happens to be the club captain?

I understand that Delph, or more accurately his agent, will have insisted on a release clause in return for signing a deal that could have theoretically kept him at the club until 2019. But with an £8 million price tag? That’s an absolute joke in the modern era and not a very funny one if you happen to be a Villa fan.

Delph’s former teammate, Belgian international Christian Benteke, also had a buyout clause in his contract, which Liverpool happily put into action. But that was for £32.5 million, a sum substantial enough for Villa to buy themselves a decent replacement.

In Delph’s case the ridiculously low buyout price meant his contract was almost entirely worthless. When he signed his new deal six months ago, boasting about how happy he was to be committed to Villa, in reality he wasn’t committing to anything. He knew he had the equivalent of a Get Out of Jail Free card in his back pocket.

Last week I had a lot of respect for Delph and the reasons behind his move to Manchester City. He didn’t want to hang around a club that was being forced to sell its stars.

But when you check the fine print of this particular transfer, Delph doesn’t come out smelling entirely of roses.

Like just about every other player in the Premier League he was only really interested in himself, not the club that made him into the player he is.

I guess it is naive to expect anything less in modern football.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade

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