The Giro d’Italia director Mauro Vegni has claimed that UCI must sort out the Froome’s salbutamol case as soon as possible. They all need a final answer before the Italian Grand Tour starts this season.
According to Vegni, UCI has everything in its hands to solve the case once and for all. Especially since he won’t accept and agree with a “compromise solution” that would make Froome able to ride the Italian Grand Tour with high chances to win the big title and then lose it after a positive anti-doping test result, just like happened with Alberto Contador back in 2011.
“We were really happy that Froome was going to ride our race. Now we have to hope that everything will be quickly clarified… For Froome, for the interests of the Giro and for cycling in general,” Vegni told L’Equipe.
“I hope we’ll soon have a final result. But whatever happens, we can’t accept a compromise solution as with Alberto Contador in 2011, where his win was cancelled from the record books for a positive test that happened in the 2010 Tour de France.
“This time Froome’s case emerged in September 2017. And the Giro starts in May 2018. That means there are eight months to find a solution. I want to believe that’s enough time, otherwise, we have to despair about our ability to run our sport. The public wouldn’t understand it and neither would I.”
In search for answers…
Even though Vegni happily welcomed Froome’s decision to become part of this season’s Giro d’Italia, at that time, Froome’s Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) for salbutamol was yet to reach the public’s ears.
Despite the fact salbutamol is known to be part of the WADA’s Prohibited Substances list, Froome continues to deny exceeding the allowed dosage saying that maybe his urine sample could have been deformed by other factors including dehydration among others.
