Froome free to defend title as UCI drop case

Briton ‘vindicated’ by decision

Chris Froome says a “huge weight” has been lifted off his shoulders after he was clearedbycycling’sworldgoverningbody of any wrongdoing in a doping case.

Froome had faced the prospect of being barred from entering this year’s Tour de France by race organisers due to ongoing uncertainty over an adverse analytical finding related to a test during last year’s Vuelta a Espana.

The four-time winner had always protested his innocence in the case, whichstemmedfromadisputeoverwhat constituted a ‘permitted level’ of the asthma drug salbutamol.

Froome said: “I’m just so relieved now that going into the Tour de France, our biggest race of the year, we can finally draw a line (under this) and have this behind us now.

“From the outset I’ve known I’ve done nothing wrong. I’ve always had that confidence, but it’s obviously been quite difficult reading all these things in the media and opinions that have been completelydistortedbyfactsthatweren’t correct being leaked into the public domain.

“Itwasdefinitelyadifficultprocess, but it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders now.”

Froome’sdesiretoputtheissuebehind him is probably wishful thinking given the acrimony which has accompanied the episode, with five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault – who left his leading role with race organisers ASO last year – suggesting two weeks ago that fellow riders should strike if Froome lined up alongside them.

There are also likely to be lingering issuesbetweencycling’sworldgoverning bodytheUCIandtheWorldAnti-Doping Agency (Wada), which indicated in the wake of the UCI’s ruling that it would not appeal against the decision, having accepted that Froome’s level “did not constitute an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF)”.

Although Froome’s disputed sample containedmorethantheallowedamount of salbutamol, excessive dehydration is widely accepted to be a mitigating factor, dropping Froome’s level to within an undefined region within which it is realistic to accept he may not actually have exceeded the legal dose.

Froome issued a statement through Team Sky in which he said the UCI’s decision had vindicated his conviction that he had done nothing wrong.

Froome said: “While this decision is obviously a big deal for me and the team, it’salsoanimportantmomentforcycling.”

The decision to exonerate Froome is likely to leave both the UCI and Wada with questions to answer. The UCI has been criticised as a result of the case endingupinthemedia, whileWadacould face legal challenges from athletes it has previouslybannedasaresultofexcessive salbutamol samples.