Froome Wants To 'draw A Line In The Sand' With Tour-Giro Double
Umer Jamshaid Published July 05, 2018 | 02:03 AM
La RochesurYon, France, July 4 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jul, 2018 ) :Chris Froome expressed massive relief to be at the starting line of the 2018 Tour de France just days after being cleared by WADA and the UCI to take part.
Tour organisers ASO had decided to ban Froome from the race but the world anti-doping agency and the International Cycling Union delivered a long-awaited verdict on a September 2017 test of the Briton that cleared the 33-year-old's name.
"Now I just want to draw a line in the sand and move on," said the four-time champion, who won the Giro d'Italia in May.
"My aim is to win and go for a Tour-Giro double.
"Doing the Tour de France and the Vuelta (a Espana) last year taught me an amazing amount about how to manage my training and that sort of thing.
"But really I can't make a prediction about how it's going to go." The Kenyan-born rider said he had little to fear from the French public on a day when security measures to protect him were announced, after more than the allowed level of asthma medication Salbutamol was found in Froome's urine during last year's Vuelta.
"I just raced the Giro in May with the Salbutamol thing hanging over me and nothing happened there," he said.
"My advice to anyone who doesn't like Chris Froome or doesn't like Sky is to come and watch the race with some other shirt, of someone you do like, and support the Tour in that way.
" "I can understand ASO's position," Froome told a packed press conference in a local sports hall that was used instead of the team hotel when around 150 journalists showed up.
"But things finally worked out and I'm free to race now." Froome's team director Dave Brailsford said Sky was used to operating in a tense atmosphere and slammed the way the information about the rider's test for Salbutamol was leaked.
"This is not the first time there has been this (negative) feeling (against the team)," Brailsford said when asked about reports in recent days suggesting Sky may be targeted.
"We knew Chris was innocent from the start and it was awful the way this information that should never have been released was leaked.
"It wasn't even technically an 'AAF' (adverse analytical finding) and few people understood this subtle difference." When asked about the evidence that proved him to have done no wrongdoing, Froome added that "most of the information is already out there".
Brailsford went on to praise Froome's strength of character after being wrongly accused.
"Chris has shown great strength and integrity while also maintaining his form, he won the Giro under those conditions," said Brailsford.
Recent Stories
HEC reviews curricula for environmental sciences degree programme
ICC Asia looking forward to an action-packed Asia Cricket Week
Yuvraj Singh named ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Ambassador
Greece hands Olympic flame to 2024 Paris Games hosts
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
World must act on neurotech revolution, say experts
Charles & Catherine's cancer diagnoses
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
King Charles to resume some public duties during cancer treatment: palace
US defense chief announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
Heavy rains cause damage to Spezand-Taftan railway track
Woman stabbed in Israel, attacker killed: police
More Stories From World
-
NFL will allow players to wear Guardian Cap helmets in games
1 hour ago -
Football: German Bundesliga table
1 hour ago -
Football: Italian Serie A result
1 hour ago -
Football: German Bundesliga results
1 hour ago -
US troops to leave Chad in second African state withdrawal
1 hour ago -
Plastics pollution may be solved without production cap: Canada minister
2 hours ago
-
Biden stalls on menthol cigarette ban fearing Black vote backlash
2 hours ago -
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
2 hours ago -
6,000 French police to welcome Olympic torch amid bonus boost
2 hours ago -
Taiwan hit by several quakes, strongest reaching 6.1-magnitude
2 hours ago -
'Ballistic' Bairstow stars as Punjab pull off record T20 chase
2 hours ago -
Tennis: ATP/WTA Madrid Open results - 2nd update
2 hours ago