Henderson mystified by Froome call
FORMER World champion Greg Henderson says he can not comment on Tour de France champion Chris Froome defending his title — as he simply can not understand how the British rider is lining up.
Henderson, who is back in Dunedin as he considers the next move in his career, said the whole issue involving Froome came back to therapeutic use exemptions.
Froome was cleared last week to ride in the Tour de France and was 1min 7sec off the lead yesterday after the first two stages.
Froome was under investigation for an adverse analytical finding for elevated levels of asthma drug salbutamol at last year’s Vuelta a Espana.
The case, which was meant to remain confidential, leaked into the public domain last December, but the UCI did not initially ban the rider.
He was cleared by the UCI last week when the it released a statement admitting it had received information from the World AntiDoping Agency that made it abundantly clear that the UCI’s disciplinary body would be unable to prosecute Froome.
Froome is a fourtime winner of the Tour de France and is heavy favourite to win again this year. Froome has been given a TUE as he suffers from asthma.
Henderson, who retired from competitive cycling last year and is now concentrating on coaching, said he was not the only one who was at a loss how Froome could be competing on the tour.
‘‘I do not understand how that is possible, how he can compete. That is what everyone can’t understand. How it is possible for a guy who has tested positive but has now survived and has now raced?’’ he said.
‘‘There are boys out there who have had less in their system and been banned. If I was one of those guys I would be spitting about it.’’
Henderson said he could understand the higher level of the salbutamol found in
Froome’s system if it was out of competition.
Maybe if it was preseason and he suffered an injury and took medication to get back to full fitness while building for the season, it could be considered, Henderson said.
But Froome’s high levels were found while he was competing in one of the grand tours.
‘‘The levels found is his system were ridiculous.’’
Henderson said he would hate to think how the Tour de France and cycling in general would cope if one of the top riders in the tour this year was caught cheating with drugs.
Henderson had competed in the Tour de France mainly for the LottoSoudal team and had also ridden for Team Sky, which is Froome’s team, in 201011.
Team Sky finished outside the top 10 in the years Henderson cycled for it but in 2012 Bradley Wiggins won the Tour and Froome finished second. Team Sky has been top of the tree since.
‘‘They found out what worked for them and did not work for them.’’
WELLINGTON: A piece of cycling history was made in the Tour de France yesterday, when Auckland rider Dion Smith became the first New Zealander to wear the polkadot king of the mountains jersey.
Smith, riding for the WantyGroupe Gobert team is competing in just his second Tour de France and pulled on the jersey at the end of yesterday’s second stage, after he took the only point on offer for a small hill climb.
The point tied him at the top of the mountain classification with Kevin Ledanois, but because Smith is better placed on the general classification, he gets to wear the jersey.
‘‘It’s pretty special to be on the podium. I’m the first Kiwi for the polkadot jersey. To represent the country and WantyGroupe Gobert this way, it’s very big,’’ he said.
‘‘The plan this morning was to get the jersey or at least score a point, then sit up and wait for the bunch, to save some energy for the coming days.
‘‘For sure, I’ll keep it tomorrow after the team time trial and the next stage I should keep it, too. Whatever happens from there, we’ll see. We have a GC [general classification] rider, Guillaume Martin, so the team time trial is pretty important for the team.’’
A year after being kicked out of the Tour de France, world champion Peter Sagan was back with a bang as he claimed victory in the second stage to take the overall leader’s yellow jersey.
Sagan was thrown out after the fourth stage 12 months ago for sending Mark Cavendish crashing in a chaotic sprint, but the Slovak won it cleanly this time, beating Italian Sonny Colbrelli and France’s Arnaud Demare into second and third.
‘‘It’s a perfect day. I was a bit scared because Sonny was com ing back strong,’’ Sagan, who also wore the yellow jersey in 2016, said.
‘‘It’s a very good start. I’m really back.’’
Colombian Fernando Gaviria, who won the opening stage on Sunday and wore the yellow jersey during the 182.5km ride from MouilleronSaintGermain, crashed in the finale and was unable to contest the sprint.
Defending champion Chris Froome, who lost 51sec to some of his main rivals after crash ing on Sunday, had an uneventful day on the bike and finished safely in the peloton.
The Briton, hoping to become the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to achieve a Giro d’ItaliaTour double, was booed by the French crowd before the start. Froome has been cleared of any wrongdoing after testing positive for excessive levels of the antiasthma drug salbutamol, but the locals have been jeering and whistling the fourtime champion. — RNZ/AAP