Irish cyclist Dan Martin feels there has been a bit of a "witch-hunt" against Team Sky during the Tour de France.
Martin finished 39th in the General Classification in this year's event which was won by Chris Froome, who has had his performances questioned and also had urine thrown at him by a spectator at one stage.
Martin was on Off The Ball tonight to talk about his own Tour experience but also gave his take on the scrutiny that has been on Team Sky, which includes his cousin Nicolas Roche on their roster.
"Obviously Nicolas is my cousin as well. He's very much a target for that abuse some of the time. It hurts us all. No one needs to be suffering through that kind of thing when they're just trying to do their job," he said.
"The thing we found most bizarre was the fact that Chris Froome and Sky, you could see them fatiguing towards the end of the race and then their competitors were very close in terms of performance and were not suffering the same kind of attention or abuse as they were. It's almost like this witch-hunt and I don't know where it's come from. But I've got an incredible amount of respect for the Sky team and what they've achieved. It's sad that the sport can be brought into disrepute in that respect and obviously it's a minority again that are bringing a bad image on the sport."
Martin also added "cycling fans have always had a generally good image and it's party-like atmosphere on the side of the road and they support every single rider on the side of the road. Whereas now that seems to have changed."
He also feels that it can still be a "lose-lose situation" even if Team Sky release Froome's data, but understands why the sport has lost the trust of the public in the wake of past scandals.
But he also feels technical developments within the sport means it is hard to compare performances between eras.
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