The organisers of the Tour de France have made moves to formally ban Chris Froome from signing in for this year's race in a bid to stop him competing. The race gets underway this Saturday.
The news was first reported by Le Monde, who confirmed race owner Amaury Sport Organisation are trying to ensure four-time winner Froome does not enter in a bid to protect the image of the race.
The French Olympic Committee are set to hear an appeal from Team Sky and make their findings known on Tuesday. It comes after Froome was found to have twice the permissible amount of asthma drug Salbutamol in his system during September’s Vuelta a Espana. He has maintained he did not break any rules. That case continues to drag on.
If Froome does succeed in his appeal he will bid to secure a fifth Tour, but others within the sport continue to protest that possibility with Five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault calling for cyclists to strike should Froome be allowed compete. Groupama-FDJ boss Marc Madiot has also praised the Tour de France organisers for the decision.
