Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

“Completely untrue” – Chris Froome dismisses report that he has accepted salbutamol ban

Italian newspaper the Corriere della Sera claimed Team Sky star had made deal for suspension of up to six months

Chris Froome has denied as “completely untrue” a report in an Italian newspaper that he has done a deal over his adverse analytical finding for the anti-asthma drug salbutamol at last year’s Vuelta and has accepted a ban lasting between five and six months.

The 32-year-old, who won the Spanish Grand Tour after clinching his fourth Tour de France title last July, was discovered to have twice the permitted level of the drug in his urine following an anti-doping control after Stage 18 of the race.

Today, Milan-based newspaper the Corriere della Sera reported that the Team Sky rider would admit negligence on his part, apparently on the advice of his wife and manager, Michelle Froome

However, he took to Twitter to deny the newspaper’s claim, describing it as “completely untrue.”

The Corriere della Sera put forward several reasons why Froome, who has vowed to provide an explanation to the authorities of how his urine came to have twice the legal concentration of salbutamol with a reading of 2,000 mg/ml, might be tempted to accept fault through a mediation process.

Those include the difficulty in persuading the UCI Anti-Doping Panel to accept whatever explanation he provides, reportedly including the argument that he was the victim of a kidney disfunction.

Moreover, the newspaper says that should he submit himself to laboratory tests in an effort to clear his name but the results fail to convince the authorities, he could face a ban of between 12 and 24 months.

For those reasons, the Corriere della Sera suggests that he would be prepared to forfeit his Vuelta title as well as the bronze medal he won in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Bergen, Norway last September.

A suspension of up to six months, which would most likely be backdated to the date of the adverse analytical finding, 7 September 2017, would mean he was eligible to return to racing at latest around two months before the start of the Giro d’Italia in Jerusalem on 4 May.

However, the newspaper adds that a ban of that length would seem a light sanction, given that Italian rider Diego Ulissi, who in 2015 was banned for nine months after admitting negligence for having an excessive level of salbutamol in his urine – albeit a lower amount than Froome.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Latest Comments