Gap: Team Sky released some of Chris Froome's power data on Tuesday as they seek to put to bed doping suspicions ahead of four gruelling Tour de France stages in the Alps.

Froome's humiliation of his rivals in the first mountain stage a week ago raised questions and a French doctor of physiology suggested on French TV that the Briton's estimated power output could only been associated with riders who had relied on banned substances in the past.

Pierre Sallet's estimation of 425 watts for 71 kilos (5.98 watts per kilo) does not meet the actual data released by Team Sky's head of athlete performance.

At 5.78 watts per kilo, as per Sky's data, Froome, who said on Monday he weighs 67-68 kilos, produced around 390 watts in the climb to La Pierre St Martin - much less than claimed by Sallet, who also deduced Froome's maximal aerobic power was 7.04 watts per kilo.

"What (TV channel) France 2 did, putting out that headline - seven watts per kilo - a picture of Lance Armstrong and a picture of (Jan) Ullrich - that was so wildly wrong on so many levels that we thought we should just correct that and give the concrete facts and give the evidence so hopefully people could judge for themselves," said Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford.

Froome, however, was not sure releasing the data would end the debate surrounding his performances.

"I'm not sure if numbers are going to fix everything, but certainly I feel as a team and myself, we're definitely trying to be as open and transparent as possible," he said on Tuesday.

(Reuters)