Defiant Froome to fight dope ban and keep racing

CHRIS FROOME will resist pressure to take a break from cycling over doping claims and instead plans to return to racing next month while fighting to clear his name. French newspaper L’Equipe reported yesterday that the Tour de France champion would be employing medical specialists to explain how his abnormal test reading for asthma drug salbutamol at the Vuelta a Espana in September had been caused by a kidney malfunction. But with that process likely to take months, the Team Sky rider is facing calls to resolve the matter more quickly because he plans to contest the Giro d’Italia in May and the Tour in July. Leading French rider Romain Bardet has said it would be a ‘catastrophe’ for the sport if Froome races while facing a ban and yesterday Giro boss Mauro Vegni told

L’Equipe he wants the situation resolved before the Italian grand tour. The tension would be eased if Froome accepted the adverse analytical finding and began serving a ban, but the Briton has no intention of accepting guilt and will present his evidence to explain the finding, probably by the end of the month. At the same time, he is said to be focused on returning to racing, having clocked up 2,000km in training recently. It was reported yesterday that Froome’s salbutamol levels were, by comparison, very low in the test the day before he was found to have double the permitted limit of 1000 ng/ml in his urine. His levels were also very low the day after. A sceptic would see that as an indication of abuse, but the sudden rise in levels is central to Froome’s argument, that a kidney malfunction meant he secreted salbutamol before releasing large quantities immediately before the drugs test. The experts currently working for Froome, 32, are not ready to submit their defence to the UCI and, until they do, it is difficult to anticipate how the case will develop. That said, the UCI’s doping experts are believed to have brought in their own renal expert in anticipation of an unprecedented line of defence. If the UCI are not satisfied, the case will almost certainly go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Indeed, if the UCI accept Froome’s explanation, it could still end up at CAS, with the anti-doping agencies entitled to challenge the decision.