I want a probe into Sky
THE president of cycling’s governing body wants a full investigation into Team Sky after a report claimed they had crossed an ethical line by using drugs allowed under anti-doping rules to enhance performance.
David Lappartient, president of the UCI, says their Anti-Doping Foundation should “see if there is some violation of anti-doping rules”.
He said: “The image of cycling, and specifically in GB with Team Sky, is damaged.”
Team Sky and former rider Sir Bradley Wiggins have separately and strongly denied the report’s conclusions, with Sky saying any medication their riders have used was always for legitimate reasons and within UCI and World Anti-Doping Agency rules. Lappartient said: “I read the press release from Team Sky saying, ‘Look we apologise, we recognise that we made some mistakes’.
“A mistake is something you’ve done without an intention to be wrong. The report is a bit different.
“It seems it was a bit organised, so maybe not a mistake but a fault, which is different.”
Team Sky and Wiggins have denied using TUEs – therapeutic use exemptions – for anything other than medical need. The report said there was no violation of the WADA code.
Lappartient added that “it would be a disaster for the image of cycling, even if on a legal point of view he has a right to ride” if Chris Froome were to race at the Tour de France with his salbutamol case verdict still pending.
CHRIS FROOME faced a fresh round of criticism for racing in Italy yesterday, while Mark Cavendish had to quit the event after his second crash in a fortnight.
Froome has so far resisted calls to sit out racing until the final verdict on his Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) in last year’s Vuelta a Espana is known.
Yesterday, reigning world time trial champion Tom Dumoulin, racing alongside Froome at the Tirreno-Adriatico event in Italy, added his voice to those calls.
“He’s not breaking any rules. Can he be here? Yes. Is it good for cycling? No. Does anyone benefit from it? No,” said Dumoulin.
“It’s his right and let’s say he is innocent, then I can understand that he’s here.
“We as a team and I have a different opinion about it. I would not be allowed to race because we’re part of the MPCC [an unofficial anti-doping watchdog association containing several top teams but which Froome’s Team Sky have not joined].
“I would probably not want to race.”
The criticism came as Sky continued to face the fallout from Monday’s parliamentary report, which claimed Sky had crossed “an ethical line” in 2012 using drugs allowed under anti-doping rules for performance enhancement. Sky have denied the claims.
This is not the first time Dumoulin has criticised a Sky rider. Two years ago, he slammed Bradley Wiggins’ reported use of a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) to take the powerful corticosteroid triamcinolone before the most important Grand Tours in his career, saying “it stinks”.
Cavendish has different problems. His unlucky start to the 2018 season showed no sign of letting up as the Briton crashed out on an opening stage for a second time in a fortnight.
The Dimension Data sprinter hit the ground at 60kmh yesterday during the team time trial, cutting his face.
“He probably hit a pothole and at 60kmh it never ends really good,” said his team director Rolf Aldag. “On the time-trial bike, you’re down low with the load on the front, so if you go down, you go on your head. He went down hard.”
His helmet askew, his kit ripped and torn and with big cuts under his eye and chin, Cavendish remounted and finished the stage before going to hospital for a check-up. But he had been pedalling so slowly after the crash, he finished outside the permitted time limit and was eliminated.
The latest chapter to a rollercoaster season came after Cavendish had scored his first win in months in early February.
But in the Abu Dhabi Tour two weeks ago, Cavendish crashed out after just five kilometres when an official race vehicle brake sensor activated, the car slowed suddenly, Cavendish collided with it and had to abandon with concussion.
While his squad finished 18th yesterday, Team Sky and Froome powered to a respectable third place, nine seconds behind winners BMC Racing of the USA.