On the second rest day of the 2015 Tour de France on Tuesday (21st July), Team Sky released data to illustrate the riding power of race leader Chris Froome after much speculation regarding doping.

SCRIPTING INFORMATION:

Chris Froome's team has released data about his riding power in an effort to quell new speculation about doping at the Tour de France.

At a news conference on Tuesday on the Tour's second rest day, Sky team performance analyst Tim Kerrison read figures including Froome's power output, cadence and heart rate on a final climb in stage 10, which he won, in the Pyrenees.

Sky manager Dave Brailsford said the team decided to release the figures after an expert on France's state broadcaster covering the race had aired what he called "wildly wrong" data about Froome's performances.

Brailsford added that he hoped the release of the data would "put to bed ... some of the numbers that they came up with."

Froome said: "I'm not sure if numbers are going to fix everything, but certainly I feel as a team and for myself personally, we're definitely trying to be as open and transparent as possible. I think we've been asked more questions than any other team. I've been asked more questions than any other GC (general classification) contender. I'd like to think we're answering those questions."

Sisteron, France. 21st July, 2015.

1. 00:00 Wide of Team Sky bus.

2. 00:05 Mid of Team Sky car.

3. 00:10 Mid of riders/officials gathering for news conference.

4. 00:16 SOUNDBITE: (English) Chris Froome, Team Sky:

(On the 2015 Tour de France so far):

"I think we're in a great place, I think we're in a great place. Of course, the few unfortunate incidents out on the road were a bit of a dampener on things. But since, I think, since the messages from Christian Preud'homme (general director of the Tour de France), since the messages from all the other riders and people showing their support, there really has been quite a change in the atmosphere out on the road. And it feels as if certainly the vast majority of the people out there are just there to support the race and all the riders, so that's really good to see. Yeah, looking forward to these next few days in the Alps and getting closer to Paris."

5. 01:01 Mid pan of news conference.

6. 01:09 SOUNDBITE: (English) Chris Froome, Team Sky:

(On speculation over performances).

"Obviously, we seem to cop a lot of speculation and, as you said, a lot of doubts around our performances. Why are those same level of doubts are not being cast upon similar performances from other GC (general classification) contenders? Why is it only us?"

7. 01:33 Close-up Chris Froome.

8. 01:40 SOUNDBITE: (English) Chris Froome, Team Sky:

(On upcoming stages).

"I do think that these next four stages, each stage has its own particular challenges to overcome. Tomorrow we've got the descent off (Col d')Allos and the final ascent up to Pra Loup. What have we got? The Lacets (de Montvernier) stage, I mean everyone's seen that climb, it's probably the most picturesque climb on this year's tour with so many switchbacks in such a short space of time, such a short distance sorry. And then we've got La Toussuire, which can be extremely selective also. And then the finish up to Alpe-d'Huez... yeah, hopefully it's going to go better than last time I rode up Alpe-d'Huez."

9. 02:33 Wide of news conference.

10. 02:39 SOUNDBITE: (English) Chris Froome, Team Sky:

(On release of data over his riding).

"Yeah, I'm not sure if numbers are going to fix everything, but certainly I feel as a team and for myself personally, we're definitely trying to be as open and transparent as possible. I think we've been asked more questions than any other team. I've been asked more questions than any other GC (general classification) contender. And I'd like to think we're answering those questions."

11. 03:08 Mid of news conference.

12. 03:14 SOUNDBITE: (English) Geraint Thomas, Team Sky:

(On his race so far).

"Yeah, it's fantastic individually really to be there. And the Pyrenees went very well for me. You know, I said coming in here I want to keep improving on the climbs and be there towards the finishes with 'Froomey' (Chris Froome). I certainly did that. So yeah, confidence and morale's really high and it's sort of infectious within the team, you know. I'm feeling good, you hear 'Froomey's' feeling really good behind you, you know that just sort of spreads through the team and everyone rides off that. So yeah, it's just been a great race overall really I think."

13. 03:54 Close-up Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford.

14. 04:00 Mid of news conference - Team Sky head of performance Tim Kerrison on left.

SOURCE: SNTV.

DURATION: 04:07.

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SHOTLIST: Sisteron, France. 21st July, 2015.

++PLEASE NOTE, SHOTS 1 AND 4 WERE USED IN PREVIOUS PIECE - CYCLING TEAM SKY (STORY NO. 1037558)++

1. 00:00 Pan to Team Sky news conference - left to right: head of performance Tim Kerrison, rider Chris Froome, team principal Sir Dave Brailsford and rider Geraint Thomas.

2. 00:08 SOUNDBITE: (English) Tim Kerrison, Team Sky head of performance:

(Revealing riding data for Chris Froome on final climb in Tour de France Stage 10).

"That 41 and a half minutes climb had an average power of 414 watts for Chris, which was 1602 VAM. What we do know about Chris's power with the osymetric rings is that power meters over-report power by about by about six per cent - when using the osymetric rings - which is why interpretation of Chris's power has to be... you know, that has to be considered when interpreting Chris's power. But with his weight hovering around 67 and a half kilos, that gives a corrected power to weight for the whole climb of 5.78 watts per kilo. However, to go from that value to making some sort of estimates of Chris's physiology, for example his VO2 Max requires a lot of assumptions."

3. 01:04 SOUNDBITE: (English) Sir Dave Brailsford, Team Sky principal:

(On decision to release Froome's riding data).

"I just think that the... in particular I think what France 2 (television station) did, you know putting out that big headline: 'seven watts per kilo' (with) - a picture of (doping cheats) Lance Armstrong and a picture of (Jan) Ullrich, I think it was... that was so wildly wrong on so many levels that actually we just thought 'actually, we should just correct that and give the concrete facts, and give the evidence, so hopefully that people can judge for themselves, you know, why would you do that.' So that was really what drove my decision on that one."

4. 01:36 Wide of news conference.

5. 01:43 SOUNDBITE: (English) Sir Dave Brailsford, Team Sky principal:

(Suggestion that cycling's world governing body the UCI might get all teams to provide riders' power data to an expert panel for assessment).

"Over a period of time you could build the data set required to give everybody really a better understanding and a better picture of the overall situation. And I think anybody looking at this sensibly would think that is the obvious way to go. So I think it's up to the UCI to get their act together. You know, all the teams have experts, all the teams have guys working like Tim (Kerrison, Team Sky's head of performance) who are analysing all of this data. So you know there are people out there who could do this job very quickly, it wouldn't be that... (difficult). People say it would take a long time to put in place, I'm not sure it would to be honest. I just think it takes the will and a bit of investment. We invest in anti-doping already, all the teams, and I'm sure we'll be willing to invest a little bit more to resolve these kind of situations, you know."

6. 02:32 Mid of news conference.

SOURCE: SNTV.

DURATION: 02:38.

STORYLINE:

On the second rest day of the 2015 Tour de France on Tuesday (21 July), Team Sky released data to illustrate the riding power of race leader Chris Froome.

SCRIPTING INFORMATION:

Chris Froome's team has released data about his riding power in an effort to quell new speculation about doping at the Tour de France.

At a news conference on Tuesday on the Tour's second rest day, Sky team performance analyst Tim Kerrison read figures including Froome's power output, cadence and heart rate on a final climb in Stage 10, which he won, in the Pyrenees.

Sky manager Dave Brailsford said the team decided to release the figures after an expert on France's state broadcaster covering the race had aired what he called "wildly wrong" data about Froome's performances.

Brailsford added that he hoped the release of the data would "put to bed ... some of the numbers that they came up with."