Tour threatens to block Froome

CYCLING

ORGANISERS of the Tour de France will refuse to let Chris Froome race in this year’s event if his salbutamol case has not been resolved.

The four-time Tour champion returned an adverse finding for the asthma drug during his winning ride at last year’s Vuelta a Espana.

Froome denies any wrongdoing and is continuing to race this season while his team of lawyers and scientists work on an explanation for the adverse sample.

Meanwhile, Aqua Blue’s Conor Dunne collected the combativity award at yesterday’s Driedaagse De Panne after spending the day in the breakaway before Quick-Step’s Elia Viviani took victory in a sprint finish. Dunne’s team-mate Adam Blythe finished ninth.

SNOOKER

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN came from behind to claim a 6-3 quarterfinal victory over Ding Junhui in the Ladbrokes Players Championship at Llandudno.

O’Sullivan trailed 2-0, but three century breaks earned the five-time world champion a place in the semi-finals.

Ding, a 6-2 victor over Mark Allen in the first round, won just one more frame – with a terrific break of 119 – as O’Sullivan surged to victory. O’Sullivan made a break of 134 in the third frame, 100 in the eighth and 121 in the ninth in dispatching Ding.

GYMNASTICS

RHYS McCLENAGHAN has qualified for the pommel horse final at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics Individual Apparatus World Cup in Qatar. McClenaghan scored 14.700 leaving him third out of 40 rivals and will compete in tomorrow’s pommel final.