The former cycling’s world governing head, admits Froome’s failed test case is a true disaster for the sport of cycling. According to Pat McQuaid, who led the International Cycling Union between 2015 and 2013, it will most probably be extremely hard for the four-time Tour de France champion to avoid a ban.
However, according to the British champion, there isn’t any broken rule. That is something the anti-doping body must know and realize, despite the fact the urine sample indicated double the permitted amount of the known asthma drug called salbutamol.
“I don’t see how Chris Froome can turn around like he did and say: ‘I played by the rules, I broke no rules.’ The fact is his urine sample was twice the permitted limit. It’s up to him to go and prove that he could have done otherwise,” Pat McQuaid added.
Irreparable Damage
According to McQuaid, this case could cause some irreparable damage to the team which is run by Sir Dave Brailsford.
“They’ve had a very difficult 15 months [and] when they set out to be the team that is the clean team that was going to bring back the credibility of cycling, they certainly have gone in the opposite direction this year. They are a team with by far the biggest budget in cycling. And they can afford all of the experts and all of the medical back-up and all of the things that a lot of teams can’t afford. And they find themselves in this situation today,” McQuaid said during an interview for BBC.
“It’s going to be very difficult to see how they can come out of this with any credibility at all, to be honest with you. It begs a lot of questions.”