The next meeting between Bernard Hinault and Chris Froome is likely to be a very awkward one....
Bernard Hinault stinging criticism of Chris Froome
Having previously declared that Chris Froome was not a legend of pro cycling and that he shouldn’t have been allowed to start the Giro, Bernard Hinault has cranked up his criticism.
He has now said because Froome’s salbutamol case remains unresolved, the British rider should not be permitted to start the Tour de France.
And if he is allowed into the race, Hinault believes the other riders should go on strike.
"The peloton should put its foot down and go on strike saying: 'If he's at the start, we're not starting!'" Hinault told Ouest France.
"The peloton is too nice. Others have been sanctioned, and everybody was in agreement. But they won't sanction him because they say it was an abnormal control?
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“No, it's not an abnormal control.... Ventolin, perhaps it's not a big thing, perhaps that's not what won him the Vuelta a Espana, we don't know. But it's banned (at some levels), and that's it. The rules are the same for everybody.”
Hinault previously said the fact Froome returned an adverse sample for salbutamol on the way to his Vuelta should have precluded him from racing.
Froome uses the asthma medication, a level of which is legal for riders with asthma. However, he exceeded that limit on the Vuelta.
But because the substance is permitted in certain quantities, riders have time to explain why their levels went higher than allowed.
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If Froome can offer an explanation, then no rule will have been broken. But if he can’t, he will face sanctions. That may include a ban and having results cancelled.
However, at present he has not judged to have broken any rules. And that ruling may never be made against him. He has never been convicted of any doping offence.
Froome has protested his innocence. Furthermore, he believes it will eventually be shown he committed no wrongdoing.
Last month Hinault launched into Froome after he had won the Giro.
“He returned a positive test at the Vuelta and afterwards his B-sample proved positive,” Hinault told Het Laatste Nieuws in Belgium.
In his, Hinault’s, eyes this was a doping offence, but no suspension had taken place.
“He should never have been allowed to start in the Giro. Why do we need to wait so long for a verdict?
“Those two Italians who had the same thing were suspended much faster,” he added of Alessandro Petachi and Diego Ulissi.
“Why does Froome get so much time to find an explanation? Is it because Team Sky has so much money?
“This is all very sad. Froome isn’t part of the legend of the sport. What image does he give cycling?
“He may also start the Tour (in July). It’s a real scandal, this has to stop.”
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