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Sir Dave Brailsford reveals prostate cancer diagnosis before Tour de France

Sir Dave Brailsford, general manager of Team Ineos
Image: Sir Dave Brailsford was diagnosed with prostate cancer a week before this year's Tour de France

Sir Dave Brailsford, general manager of cycling’s Team Ineos, has revealed he is recovering from prostate cancer.

Brailsford, who previously worked as the head of Team Sky, was diagnosed with the illness before the Tour de France in July this year.

The 55-year-old underwent a five-hour long open surgery in August and will discover the full results of that operation on Saturday.

Brailsford told The Times: "There's bound to be fear. It's the great unknown. I think I'm resilient, tough, I can put up with a lot but in hospital one day I was overwhelmed, to be honest."

Despite receiving his diagnosis less than a week before the start of the Tour de France, Brailsford was there to see his rider Egan Bernal complete victory but admits he is struggling with extreme fatigue.

"One day I woke up asleep on my desk, literally crashed out on it," he said. "I'm thinking 'this is just a hassle. I'm too busy'. Luckily I have a brilliant doctor who put his foot down.

"My attitude had been ridiculous, really, looking back. That was the first time I was stopped in my tracks.

"I could easily have got into a hole, gone into myself which is normally what I do. I set myself a game plan. I talk to athletes about choosing your attitude. Now it was up to me.

"It's easy to think 'why is it happening to me?' I've worked hard on my health so you can get bitter, angry, frustrated. I had to learn to accept it. Talking about it among the team was a massive help.

"Luckily four or five days in, someone sent me the perfect text: 'This is not a test of personality or motivation or how fast you can go. You need to heal. The only thing that can help that is time'."

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