Chris Froome is under extreme pressure and his form on the bike is very poor. But things look set to get much worse for the Tour de France champion and four-time winner.
Chris Froome could be blocked from Tour de France over image concerns
The organisers of the Tour de France are ready to block Chris Froome from the race on the grounds he would tarnish the event’s image.
Respected news agency Press Association has reported informed sources saying ASO, which owns the Tour, is ready to block Froome if his salbutamol case is not resolved in time.
Already it is growing increasingly likely that Froome will ride the Giro despite his case being unresolved.
But Press Association is reporting the Tour de France is simply unwilling to allow that happen with their race.
The reports state that under the race’s rules a rider can be excluded to safeguard the reputation of the event.
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And the reports claim ASO is ready to use that clause against Froome, the current Tour champion.
Geraint Thomas, centre, in the leader’s jersey at the recent Tirreno Adriatico. If Froome is blocked from the Tour de France, Thomas and Wout Poels will feel they have a big chance to ride for themselves and prosper. Poels is currently out injured having broken a collar bone in a Paris-Nice crash.
Chris Froome returned twice the permitted level of asthma drug salbutamol in a dope test on stage 18 of the Vuelta last year.
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He went on to win the race overall. News of his test result only emerged after the event was over.
Because the substance is allowed in limited quantities, an excess amount does not carry an automatic ban.
Instead, any rider found with too much of the substance in their system is allowed time to furnish an explanation.
If they cannot explain their elevated salbutamol levels, and show that they stayed within the rules, the matter becomes a doping violation. As a result, a ban from competition would follow.
Chris Froome and Team Sky are still at the point of trying to provide a credible explanation. Furthermore, Froome insists he has not cheated.
And because the case is still at the stage of an explanation being worked on, Froome is entitled to race.
He and Team Sky have ignored calls from across cycling for him to cease racing until the matter is resolved.
Froome has said repeatedly he is completely innocent. Because of that, he sees no reason to step away from racing even temporarily.
Chris Froome could be banned, results stripped
If Froome was blocked from the Tour it would be a hammer blow for him, Dave Brailsford and Team Sky.
However, many who have spoken out against Froome continuing to race have said he is damaging the sport.
And with the world’s media focused on the Tour each year far more intensely than any other bike race, there would likely be a frenzy around his participation if his case was not resolved by then.
Added to that, if his case was continuing and he rode the race, it is possible he could later be suspended.
A ban would be backdated, meaning he would be stripped of the Tour title. That is an outcome ASO will be desperate to avoid.
It's a scenario that would be sidestepped if Chris Froome was blocked from riding the Tour de France.
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