Froome: I will definitely defend my Tour crown

Chris Froome says he will “definitely” be on the start line of the Tour de France a week on Saturday, hitting back at critics such as Bernard Hinault, who believes he should be suspended.

Hinault, the five-time Tour champion, suggested last week that the other riders in the peloton should go on strike if Froome – who is battling to clear his name following an adverse analytical finding for salbutamol – turns up in France.

The Frenchman repeated his opinion on Wednesday. “I do not think he has a place [at the Tour] today, he’s positive,” Hinault told the AFP news agency. “Why was Alberto Contador convicted for the same reasons, and why is [Froome] not condemned? They [Sky] have a lot of money to defend it, but is it a good image for cycling? In cadet races today, they all have Ventolin [salbutamol inhalers] while they are not sick.”

Froome, who has just completed his final altitude camp in the Alps, said he realised it was a sensitive issue, but given that he had a clear conscience he felt he had “every right” to be racing, as the rules permit him to do.

“I can certainly see it from that point of view; that people are concerned about the image of the sport,” Froome told Sky Sports. “I know I’ve done nothing wrong and from the very beginning, that’s always been my starting point. So it would be really hard for me to not race, knowing that I’ve done nothing wrong, that I’ve got every right to be racing, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

Froome added that he was sure the result would stand should he win in Paris on July 29. “Yes, yes, as with the Giro [d’italia] last month,” he said. “I’m fully expecting to be exonerated, to be fully cleared by the end of this process.”

Meanwhile, Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) underlined his superb form by winning the national time-trial title at the British Road Championships in Northumberland yesterday. Harry Tanfield (Canyon-eisberg) and Alex Dowsett (Katusha-alpecin) won silver and bronze respectively.

In the women’s race, Hannah Barnes (Canyon-sram) won her first national time-trial title as she and younger sister Alice took gold and silver, with Neah Evans, of Storey Racing, third.

The men’s and women’s road races take place on Sunday.