TO see Chris Froome abused by spectators as he marched towards his second Tour de France crown in three years was utterly despicable.

The 30-year-old was spat at and had urine thrown over him during the three-week event, which culminated in him riding to his coronation on the Champs-Elysees last Sunday.

Despite being subjected to the very worst of human behaviour, Froome rose above it all to become the first Briton to win the famous race twice.

Yet, for all he has had to endure in the pursuit of success, there are some who will always believe he did it illegally, and that is the worst of it all.

Froome is assured of his status as one of Britain’s greatest ever cyclists but he will forever, it seems, have to prove his innocence until he is blue in the face.

Team Sky even released data to underline their insistence that Froome is, and always has been, clean.

What more do they have to do?

Sadly, there is no telling the conspiracy theorists, who are hell bent on discrediting Froome and his team.

Ever since the Lance Armstrong scandal, cycling has been irreparably damaged, the thought being that if Armstrong could pull the wool over everyone’s eyes for so long, anyone can.

But Froome answered his critics in the only way possible — by writing himself into the record books.