’Double standard’ on Froome doping probe

FOUR-TIME Tour de France champion Chris Froome’s renewed claims of innocence were accompanied by doubts about why he was not immediately suspended for failing a doping test.

The British cyclist has been ordered to explain to the International Cycling Union why he had double the allowed level of legal asthma drug salbutamol in his urine after providing a sample at the Spanish Vuelta in September.

While accepting the case is “damaging” for a sport scarred by doping scandals, Froome insisted Team Sky had evidence to prove he was not guilty of cheating. But rival rider Tony Martin said the UCI’s handling of the case was a “scandal”.

“I am totally angry,” the German wrote on Facebook.

“There is definitely a double standard being applied in the Christopher Froome case. Other athletes are suspended immediately after a positive test. He and his team are given time by the UCI to explain it all. I do not know of any similar case in the recent past.

“That is a scandal, and he should at least not have been allowed to appear in the World Championships.”

Sky said Froome had to take an increased dosage of salbutamol without exceeding the permissible dose after experiencing “acute asthma symptoms” during the final week of the Vuelta. Froome defended himself in an interview with Sky, the broadcaster that owned his cycling team.

“I am being tested every single day of the race that I am in the leader’s jersey, I knew I was being tested,” Froome said.

“We also have a wealth of information from within the team of what I ate every single day, how many times I have stopped to pee every day. The detail of the information that we have been able to provide is vast.”

The UCI had yet to com- ment about its actions, which Martin denounced as a “major blow to the difficult anti-doping fight”.

Meanwhile the wife of Sir Bradley Wiggins has been forced to apologise after branding Chris Froome a “slithering reptile” and accusing Team Sky of sacrificing her husband to protect their star rider.

Wiggins and Froome fell out when they were Sky teammates at the 2012 Tour de France.