Froome: Drug case has damaged me
CHRIS FROOME has admitted his reputation has been tarnished by the nine-month case involving a sample he gave at last year’s Vuelta a Espana which exceeded the permitted limit for the asthma drug salbutamol. The Briton also said he understood why the Tour de France organisers initially tried to block him from entering this year’s race, which starts in the Vendee in western France on Saturday. However, after the World Anti-Doping Agency effectively declared on Tuesday that the positive reading of his sample was a mistake, cycling’s governing body, the UCI, announced Froome had no case to answer. The four-time Tour winner will now lead Team Sky on Saturday and go in pursuit of a fifth title. ‘Now I just want to draw a line in the sand and move on,’ said Froome, 33. Speaking in public for the first time since his case was dropped, he said his reputation had ‘of course been damaged’ by the leak of the salbutamol case against him. Froome urged fans following the race over its 2,082-mile route not to ‘bring negativity’. ‘I would encourage fans of the sport to come watch the race, and if you are not necessarily a Chris Froome fan or a Sky fan, come to the race and put a jersey on of another team you do support,’ he said. Team Sky general manager Sir Dave Brailsford said: ‘It has been a challenging time since the end of last year.’ He went on to say that ‘a shadow of doubt shouldn’t exist if you trust in our authorities’. Froome may still receive a hostile reaction from the French public over the next few weeks, but he dismissed any security fears, saying: ‘You would think if there were any problems we would have seen that at the Giro d’Italia, but there weren’t any.’