"Chris Froome's case is now in the hands of the International Cycling Union's (UCI) anti-doping tribunal to decide the fate of the four-time winner of the Tour de France after his "abnormal" control of the Vuelta, announced Friday the newspaper Le Monde.
The case left the walls of the UCI where it was analysed by the competent service of the International Federation (Legal anti-doping services, LADS) to the Anti-Doping Tribunal, an independent structure created in 2015, says the French daily explaining that the Legal Service (LADS) therefore considered that there was no objective data to lead to a dismissal.
The name of the sole judge responsible for deciding is known. Germany's Ulrich Haas, a regular at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), will decide on the future of Froome, according to the daily which confirms the recent news of the newspaper L'Equipe.
Despite this progress, the question mark on the date of the judgment remains. Probably not before the departure of the Giro, the first major goal of Froome in 2018, scheduled for May 4 in Jerusalem. And maybe not even before the Tour de France (July 7th), another major rendezvous for the Englishman who is running for a fifth success (equal record) in the main race of the calendar.
According to Le Monde, the various hypotheses to explain the abnormal concentration of salbutamol (an anti-asthmatic drug with certain anabolic properties) in the urine of Froome during its control of the Vuelta, on September 7, were rejected by the LADS. The defense of Froome has kept only one strategy, the questioning of the test and its limit (1000 ng / ml), a ceiling flattened by the English rider who had twice the concentration allowed for this substance .
This questioning of the World Code inevitably concerns the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the guarantor of the rules. Its managing director Olivier Niggli, quoted by the French daily, said in this regard that "the AMA will provide the UCI with all the elements they need for the test itself".
As for the limit of 1000 ng / ml, it is considered incontestable by the medical director of the AMA, Olivier Rabin: "the rule is established for a long time; The threshold has not changed and has already passed before the Arbitral Tribunal of the sport."
Meanwhile, Froome continues to train on the slopes of the Teide volcano in Tenerife. Before returning to competition at the Tour des Alpes (April 16 to 20), last step for him before the Giro."
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