Froome is facing Tour ban over drugs case

CHRIS FROOME will be barred from this year’s Tour de France if his salbutamol case has not been resolved. It is believed that ASO, the French company who run the Tour, have no intention of letting a rider with a potential anti-doping violation hanging over him to be in the race which starts on July 7. The four-time Tour champion returned an adverse finding for the asthma drug salbutamol during his winning ride at last year’s Vuelta a Espana. Froome (below) denies any wrongdoing and is continuing to race this season — as is his right under the World AntiDoping Agency’s rules — while his team of lawyers and scientists work on an explanation for the adverse sample, which contained twice the allowed concentration of the drug. The Team Sky rider confirmed yesterday that his final warmup race for his first big target of the season, the Giro d’Italia, will be the Tour of the Alps, a fiveday race in Austria and Italy that starts on April 16. The Giro d’Italia’s organisers have already said that they are powerless to stop the 32-yearold Briton from riding in their race and new International Cycling Union president David Lappartient has confirmed that Froome’s case will not be heard before the race starts on May 4.