Chris Froome thinks there has been a "huge shift" in attitude towards him at the Tour de France this year after having to contend with doping allegations following his recent successes in the famous race.

The Brit is on course to retain his title in Paris on Sunday, as he holds an advantage of one minute and 47 seconds over Bauke Mollema with only five stages remaining.

Froome won the most prestigious race for a second time 12 months ago, but the Team Sky rider grew increasingly frustrated with suspicions of doping levelled at him.

The 31-year-old took the unprecedented step of releasing his performance data during the Tour last year in an attempt to silence his critics.

And Froome has sensed that he has won over the doubters as he has taken on all comers once again in the 2016 edition of the Tour.

He told Sky News: "I definitely feel as if there has been a huge shift this year.

"At the end of last season, I basically offered myself up for independent testing and went and did a whole load of physiological testing and released that data to the public, and I feel as if that has helped things quite a lot.

"And I think also, how I have ridden the race this year, I haven't just ridden away from everyone on the climbs.

"I have attacked on descents, I have attacked in the crosswinds, and it's quite difficult to say, 'Well, he's descending faster than everyone else so something is wrong here'."