Team Sky should suspend Chris Froome until an investigation into his failed drugs test for an asthma medication is over, said the International Cycling Union (UCI) president David Lappartient.
The four-time Tour de France winner, who denies breaking any rules, could potentially be stripped of his Vuelta a Espana title after a urine test he took during the race in September showed excessive levels of Salbutamol, Reuters reported on Friday.
Salbutamol is permitted as a legal asthma drug by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the UCI said Froome’s failed urine test did not necessitate a mandatory provisional suspension even if analysis of his urine sample showed a concentration of 2,000 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml), double WADA’s threshold.
“Team Sky should suspend Froome,” Lappartient told the daily Le Telegramme. “However, it is not up to me to interfere. Without going into the question of guilt, it would be simpler for everyone. It’s up to (team manager Dave) Brailsford to take his responsibilities. Apart from that I think that it is what the other riders wish.”
Lappartient, who said he was notified of Froome’s test result an hour after being elected in Bergen, Norway, on Sept. 21, last year, believes that “in the eyes of the wider public (the Briton) is already guilty.”
