Froome rides for rhinos as Tour

Riding as a helper is a role I’m familiar with.

Armstrong’s participation in Le Tour-One Day Ahead alongside former England footballer Geoff Thomas, who is aiming to raise £1million for Cure Leukaemia, has been a divisive issue.

MURET – For the first time since he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong on Thursday rode a stage of the famous race for charity.

Froome says he’s clean and has never tested positive.

Brailsford said he understood why great performances are often questioned.

The 12th stage is another gruelling ride in the mountains. But he emphasized his hard work – sometimes from 6 a.m.to 10 p.m. – and decried a “lack of respect” shown by some.

It came at a time when data, apparently stolen when his Sky team’s computers were hacked, was published on the internet. “Don’t ask me, I have no clue”. If that were the rule, the caravan would nearly be empty.

The 25-year-old Pole was part of an eight-man breakaway but attacked his companions on the monstrous Col du Tourmalet, which rises to more than 2 km above sea level, with around 50 km remaining.

“There would be some interesting things that come out of it and maybe as a team we might even learn something from it. But at the moment I’m focused on the race”. The Australian went on to use an expletive suggesting he had scared off the critic.

He rode his last Tour in 2010.

Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Argon) was third and Froome (Team Sky) rolled in 5mins 21secs behind Majka in ninth place as part of an elite group. Majka had begun the 188-kilometer (117-mile) stage from Pau to Cauterets more than 441/2 minutes behind the British race leader.

Brian Cookson, the head of cycling governing body UCI, earlier this year called Armstrong’s planned ride “ill-advised” and “disrespectful to the Tour de France”.

The results had little impact on the overall standings. Contador is sixth, 4:04 off the Briton’s pace.

And a scintillating performance in Tuesday’s mountain stage earned Froome accusations of doping, to which the Kenyan-born former champion reacted angrily, stressing: “I know I’m a clean rider”.

The average speed in this year’s Tour in the first 11 stages was 42.46 kph.

Joaquim Rodriguez won his second stage at this year’s Tour de France on Thursday with a solo victory in stage 12.

Armstrong yesterday insisted, however, that he did not mean to insinuate that Froome and his team-mates are doping.

Froome felt strong enough to launch his own attack but was soon brought back before they all sprinted for the line trying to eke out a second. But 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali slipped further behind and is now 7:47 adrift of Froome.

Thomas is taking on the entire 3,360-kilometres route of the 2015 Tour one day ahead of the professional peloton to celebrate the 10th anniversary of entering remission and riding the 2005 Tour route.