Giro chief: Team Sky misled me over Froome’s adverse drugs test
● Vegni claims the British outfit did not disclose rider’s salbutamol case during negotiations over £ 1.2m appearance fee
The director of the Giro d’italia has accused Team Sky of deceiving him during the negotiations over the British outfit’s appearance fee for the race, which starts in Jerusalem today.
Team Sky have been paid a reported £ 1.2 million to bring Chris Froome to Israel, as the 32- year-old tries to become only the third rider in histo - ry to hold all three grand tour title sat same time, following his fourth Tour de France victory last summer and his win at the Vuelta a Espana in September.
That win in Spain, however, is now the subject of considerable controversy as Froome returned a sample during the race’s final week that contained twice the permitted amount of the asthma drug salbutamol.
The test took place on 7 September and the race finished three days later. Froome and Team Sky’ s boss Sir Dave B rails ford were informed of the adverse finding on 20 September, the day the rider claimed a bronze medal in the time trial at the road world championships. Froome announced his intention to ride the Giro in a video shown during the route presentation on 29 November, just over a fort night before his problematic test at the Vuelta emerged.
The world, including the Giro’s owners RCS Sport, first learned of that test on 14 December, when it was reported by The Guardian and Le Monde newspapers.
Because cycling’ s world governing body the UCI has not decided whether it will charge Froo me, he remains free to compete, much to the frustration of some of his rivals.
Until now, R CS Sport has only made diplomatic remarks about being disappointed that the case has not yet been resolved–that changed on the eve of the race. When asked if he felt deceived by Team Sky’ s failure to mention Froome’ s adverse test, Giro director Ma uro Veg ni said :“Definitely yes, definitely yes. “The negotiations with Team Sky took place before the Giro presentation so, within a correct relationship, I would have expected to be informed – so I really didn’t like this.” Veg ni has repeatedly claimed Froo me will not be stripped of the title, if he wins, as any sanction he receives will not be backdated to the Vuelta. That, however, did not stop Vegni suggesting it would be better if that uncertainty was removed by somebody else winning the race – defending champion Tom Du moul in, pictured, for example. “Look, as an organiser I don’t really support any rider but Tom is a nice character,” Vegni said.
“He’s young, he’s handsome, he is good for cycling as a whole. Also as an athlete he is a good performer. Let’s say it would be a really good outcome for the Giro.”
In a statement, a Team Sky spokesperson said: “The UCI process regarding Chris would normally have remained confidential. The Team wanted to fully respect this but since it became public we have stayed in regular touch with the Giro organisers about it.
“We received and agreed the final race contract within the last three weeks – obviously some time after the issue had became public.”