Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/550022
50 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 AUGUST 2015 Sport TOUR DE FRANCE FORMULA 1 Chris Froome admits illness left him 'hanging on' at the Tour de France CHRIS Froome has revealed he would have liked to have gone on the attack in the Tour de France's final mountain stages in the Alps but was left "hanging on" by a bout of illness. The Team Sky rider went into the final weekend of the three- week race with a 3min 10sec ad- vantage but saw that cut to a final winning margin of 1min 12sec after runner-up Nairo Quintana launched a ferocious late fight- back. Speaking immediately after the race in "Chris Froome: Back in Yellow", a one-hour documenta- ry to be screened on Sky Sports 1 at 10pm on Sunday, the 30-year- old Briton admitted the summit finishes on stages 19 and 20 had been a "battle" against not just Quintana, but also his health. He said: "Part of me thought that I might be able to get to the Alps and still do some more dam- age at that point. "But unfortunately on the sec- ond rest day [after stage 16],I started to come down with a bit of a chesty cough. I have got asth- ma and my airways were closing up a little bit. I won't lie, the last few days, I have really been bat- tling, just hanging on. "I have basically just been look- ing at that three minute advan- tage that I have had and thinking, 'Right, I'm just going to defend that the best I can now'." A third element Froome had to overcome to win the yellow jersey for the second time in his career was doubts over the legitimacy of his performances and physical abuse from a sceptical crowd. The worst instances saw him spat on and have urine thrown at him, while team-mate Richie Porte was punched during one of the Pyrenean stages. Froome reacted angrily at times during the race but insists he is comfortable with the pressures that come with being leader of the Tour. He added: "It is a lot to take on it is a lot to process from my point of view. I feel as if nothing has re- ally changed; I'm still the same guy who just enjoys riding his bike every day. "But, of course, I'm in this posi- tion now where, especially the cy- cling of 2015, where we need peo- ple to be spokesmen for the sport, especially given the position I'm in, in the yellow jersey, I think I do have quite a responsibility on my shoulders to fill that role. "It is difficult. I take a lot of crit- icism, I put up with a lot, but to be honest, it is a lot easier when of course I know I have nothing to hide. "It's a no-brainer for me: I have got nothing really to stress about and I think that's probably been one of the reasons why I have been able to put up with so much along the way." Froome won the Tour for the second time in his career Fernando Alonso tempted by other categories MCLARENHONDA driver Fernando Alonso has admitted that he is tempted by a switch to other categories in the future, claiming Formula 1 "is not as exciting" as when he started to compete in the sport. Alonso has long expressed his frustration over Formula 1's lat- est ruleset, criticising a lack of outright performance, restric- tions on testing and the use of tyres. Although he is enjoying his latest chapter with the renewed McLaren-Honda partnership, Alonso says the current state of the sport has led him to ponder his future. "I love motorsport, all cat- egories, and Formula 1 is not as exciting as it was in the past, at least for me," said Alonso, who is contracted to McLaren-Honda through 2017. "It is a huge motivation and a fantastic project that I'm in with McLaren-Honda; my first go-kart was a McLaren-Honda replica and now I'm in the real McLaren-Honda. "I am enjoying this process of getting competitive – starting from zero. "But with no testing, with these tyres, with these limitations and with the calendar, for example next year, there are the tempta- tions of other categories, yes." Alonso had been linked to Por- sche and an LMP1 outing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for 2015, a race ultimately won by fellow Formula 1 driver Nico Hülken- berg. Fernando Alonso Raikkonen urges critics to focus on performance not results KIMI Raikkonen says he de- serves to have his critiques based on his performances, rather than his results, as he feels he has poor fortune is po- tentially damaging his reputa- tion in 2015. After ten races, Raikkonen is classified fifth in the stand- ings, 84 points adrift of his two-time race winning team- mate Sebastian Vettel and behind the man being heavily tipped to replace him at Ferra- ri next season, Valtteri Bottas. Indeed, as Raikkonen's im- mediate future remains decid- edly unclear heading into the summer break, the Finn used the example of his frustrating retirement whilst running sec- ond in the Hungarian Grand Prix as an example that critics shouldn't be focusing solely on his race results. "It was great for Sebastian and it's a good thing for the team that he won," he said. "It would have been nice to be first and second, but in the end it's what happens. "People can look at it two ways, they can look that we did well or they can just look at the result. It depends which way you look, I feel that we have the speed and we have a lot of things we just keep going against us. "It doesn't look great but there are a lot of positive things and obviously when we have issues, we have issues and it's not great. We have to somehow change that and we still have a great team capable of great results, but we have to finish the race first and that's how it is." Vettel also took the time to praise Raikkonen's efforts in the Hungarian Grand Prix, saying the performance 'an- swers a couple of questions' amidst 'all the bullshit that's been going around '. "Obviously a bit of a shame for Kimi – it's not my job but all the bullshit that's been go- ing around recently, I think both of us were driving a very consistent race and deserved a 1-2. I think that's a couple of answers to some