TEAM SKY are confident that defending champion Chris Froome will be on the start line of this year’s Tour de France, despite reports emerging that race organisers are blocking him from entering.
The Brit, who would be aiming for his fifth Tour title when the race begins on Saturday, is currently under investigation by cycling’s governing body, the UCI, after twice the permitted level of legal asthma drug Salbutamol was found in an anti-doping test he took during last year’s Vuelta a Espana.
Froome has continued racing since the adverse findings as per UCI rules and has had a strong 2018 so far, winning the Giro d’Italia for the first time in his career in May to hold all three grand tour titles simultaneously.
However, French newspaper Le Monde reported over the weekend that race organisers ASO do not want Froome to compete in this year’s Tour while his doping case is still pending.
ASO feel, it was reported, that the inclusion of Froome would damage the reputation of the race and do, under UCI rules, have the authority to refuse a rider the right to participate.
Team Sky have appealed the move to block his entry to the French Olympic Committee – the appeal will be heard tomorrow with a decision expected the following day.
Team Sky are optimistic though that their star rider will be on the start line on Saturday, releasing a statement saying: “We are confident that Chris will be riding the Tour as we know he has done nothing wrong.
UCI President David Lappartient said that Froome has every right to race, but should sit out while the case is ongoing while Tour race director, Christian Prudhomme said this week: “It’s terrible that the authorities have not managed to resolve this problem before the start of the world’s biggest race. I will not comment more but of course, rules have to be changed.”
Meanwhile, in the British National Road Race Championships in Northumberland yesterday, Connor Swift won the men’s race ahead of Adam Blythe.
In the women’s race, Jessica Roberts took the title while teenager Rhona Callander was first Scot home in 49th place, with Jenny Holl in 65th place.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here