Froome given Tour all-clear

– British rider Chris Froome (above) was cleared of doping allegations yesterday and authorised to compete in the Tour de France after organisers lifted a ban on the four-time winner.

Froome, 33, said he is now looking forward to attempting to win a fifth Tour de France which gets underway on Saturday.

“I am very pleased that the UCI has exonerated me,” Froome said after the Union Cycliste Internationale, the sport’s ruling body, said a probe had been dropped.

The UCI announced the decision a day after Tour organisers barred him from taking part.

Froome’s appeal against the ban was scheduled to be heard today by the French national Olympic committee in Paris.

But within hours of the UCI announcement, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme told AFP the organisers had dropped their opposition to him riding.

“We were awaiting this decision (from the UCI) and now he has been cleared,” said Prudhomme. “When we are told he has done nothing wrong we are obviously not going to maintain the ban. It’s just a shame the decision came so late.”

Team Sky leader Dave Brailsford said the way was now clear for Saturday’s start of the threeweek Tour from the Vendee.

“Today’s ruling draws a line. We can all move on and focus on the Tour,” said Brailsford.

The UCI confirmed it had cleared Froome of suspicions that have circulated since he was found to have twice the permissible amount of the legal asthma drug Salbutamol in his system during last September’s Vuelta a Espana, which he won. – AFP