Cycling chief demands ‘safe’ Tour de France for Froome

Calls for trouble during showpiece event put UCI on alert

The head of world cycling, David Lappartient, yesterday urged the public to ensure British rider Chris Froome has a “safe” Tour de France.

The world’s biggest cycling race starts on Saturday, just days after four-time champion Froome was cleared of doping suspicions by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), headed by Lappartient.

In a post on his Twitter account, Lappartient said the UCI’s decision should be respected, as should “all riders, including Chris Froome”.

“I have heard calls, sometimes completely irrational, to violence on the Tour de France.

“I cannot accept that and I call on all spectators to protect all the athletes and to respect the judicial decision so that Chris Froome can compete in a safe and serene environment like all other athletes.”

Froome, 33, was under investigation after delivering an abnormal test sample during the Tour of Spain last year. He recorded an adverse analytical finding for Salbutamol, an asthma medication.

“I feel the need to say to cycling lovers, to lovers of the Tour de France, that the decision that was taken [to drop the case against Froome] was taken on the basis of reports from experts, which led the World Anti-Doping Agency [Wada] to consider that no violation of anti-doping rules had taken place,” Lappartient said.

Opposition to Froome had been building in France ahead of the Tour, with five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault labelling him a cheat and organisers barring him from riding before lifting the ban. Froome is out to emulate five-time winners Hinault, Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain when he competes for a fifth Tour win.