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| Chris Froome’s Dauphiné hopes fade as UCI clears medical remedy | Chris Froome’s Dauphiné hopes fade as UCI clears medical remedy |
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| Chris Froome’s build-up to the defence of his Tour de France title suffered a major setback on Sunday with the 2013 Tour winner cracking and sliding out of the top 10 as he attempted to repeat his victory of 2013 in the Criterium du Dauphiné Libéré, while a statement from the governing body, the UCI, helped rebut the implication in the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche that his request for a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for a corticosteroid earlier this season might have received preferential treatment. | |
| A Team Sky spokesman confirmed that Froome had been “suffering from a chest infection exacerbating his underlying asthma” and had been prescribed prednisolone tablets at 40mg per day by the team doctor during the Tour de Romandie. Froome, who is asthmatic and uses an inhaler occasionally during races, had been forced to pull out of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic on 27 April at less than 24 hours notice, due to a chest infection; the TUE was issued on 29 April, the day the Tour de Romandie started. | |
| “At the time I was coming back from a training camp at altitude and I was supposed to participate in Liège-Bastogne-Liège but I was coughing too much and the morning of the race the doctor told me that I had to pull out if I wanted to go to the Tour de Romandie and that I needed to rest for two days,” Froome said, according to L’Equipe. | “At the time I was coming back from a training camp at altitude and I was supposed to participate in Liège-Bastogne-Liège but I was coughing too much and the morning of the race the doctor told me that I had to pull out if I wanted to go to the Tour de Romandie and that I needed to rest for two days,” Froome said, according to L’Equipe. |
| “I gave everything I had in the Romandie prologue but I was coughing so much that we decided to ask for a TUE that evening. It was just an oral [corticosteroid], there was no injection.” | “I gave everything I had in the Romandie prologue but I was coughing so much that we decided to ask for a TUE that evening. It was just an oral [corticosteroid], there was no injection.” |
| Prednisolone is a corticosteroid which is widely used to treat a variety of inflammatory conditions including arthritis and asthma, with a starting dose if taken in tablet form of between 5 and 60mg per day. In common with other corticosteroids it is on the Wada banned list when taken orally or by injection but its use in competition is permitted if a Therapeutic Use Exemption is applied for. | Prednisolone is a corticosteroid which is widely used to treat a variety of inflammatory conditions including arthritis and asthma, with a starting dose if taken in tablet form of between 5 and 60mg per day. In common with other corticosteroids it is on the Wada banned list when taken orally or by injection but its use in competition is permitted if a Therapeutic Use Exemption is applied for. |
| “In accordance with Wada guidelines the medical team made an application for the use of [prednisolone] through the correct, regulated TUE system. This was granted by the UCI,” said the team. “After the original assessment and decision he was monitored regularly and seen each day by the team doctor to look at his condition and continued racing.” | “In accordance with Wada guidelines the medical team made an application for the use of [prednisolone] through the correct, regulated TUE system. This was granted by the UCI,” said the team. “After the original assessment and decision he was monitored regularly and seen each day by the team doctor to look at his condition and continued racing.” |
| “Dr Zorzoli, the UCI doctor, told us what we could and couldn’t do, we’ve always stayed within the rules, so we’ve got nothing to hide,” said the team’s head, Sir Dave Brailsford. The newspaper stated that Wada was looking into the issue but, when contacted by the Guardian, the Wada director general, David Howman, said he had no knowledge of this. | “Dr Zorzoli, the UCI doctor, told us what we could and couldn’t do, we’ve always stayed within the rules, so we’ve got nothing to hide,” said the team’s head, Sir Dave Brailsford. The newspaper stated that Wada was looking into the issue but, when contacted by the Guardian, the Wada director general, David Howman, said he had no knowledge of this. |
| A UCI statement said that “nothing out of the ordinary occurred in the case of Chris Froome”. The UCI confirmed that: “Froome’s TUE for oral use of glucocorticosteroids was granted on 29 April, 2014 based on duly documented medical history and in compliance with the applicable UCI regulations and the relevant Wada guidelines. The TUE was granted for a limited period, following the usual procedure.” | |
| The UCI added: “The process was fully transparent as it is UCI’s policy to systematically record all TUEs on ADAMS [a system monitoring the whereabouts of an athlete]. Wada was therefore informed throughout the process.”It rejected the implication that Froome’s application might have received preferential treatment. “The UCI wishes to emphasise that under the applicable rules – which are consistent with the Wada Code and the Wada TUE standard and guidelines – any rider with the same symptoms as Christopher Froome would have received a similar TUE.” | The UCI added: “The process was fully transparent as it is UCI’s policy to systematically record all TUEs on ADAMS [a system monitoring the whereabouts of an athlete]. Wada was therefore informed throughout the process.”It rejected the implication that Froome’s application might have received preferential treatment. “The UCI wishes to emphasise that under the applicable rules – which are consistent with the Wada Code and the Wada TUE standard and guidelines – any rider with the same symptoms as Christopher Froome would have received a similar TUE.” |
| This is not the first time that Sky have been recorded as having applied for a TUE to be issued at short notice; a feature in the magazine Cycle Sport on the team in 2011 noted that their team doctor, Richard Freeman, had to put in a call to Zorzoli to obtain permission for their then rider Rigoberto Urán to use a corticosteroid for a breathing-related problem. | This is not the first time that Sky have been recorded as having applied for a TUE to be issued at short notice; a feature in the magazine Cycle Sport on the team in 2011 noted that their team doctor, Richard Freeman, had to put in a call to Zorzoli to obtain permission for their then rider Rigoberto Urán to use a corticosteroid for a breathing-related problem. |
| The use of corticosteroids through TUEs in cycling is a vexed one, with some campaigners such as Britain’s David Millar calling for all riders to reveal precisely what TUEs they are using, because their performance-enhancing nature means there is potential for the system to be abused, while others question whether an athlete needing medication should be allowed to compete at all. Defenders of the system point out, however, that it enables cyclists to be treated with prescription medicines in the same way that anyone else might be. | The use of corticosteroids through TUEs in cycling is a vexed one, with some campaigners such as Britain’s David Millar calling for all riders to reveal precisely what TUEs they are using, because their performance-enhancing nature means there is potential for the system to be abused, while others question whether an athlete needing medication should be allowed to compete at all. Defenders of the system point out, however, that it enables cyclists to be treated with prescription medicines in the same way that anyone else might be. |
| Froome’s challenge in the Dauphiné –the warm-up to the Tour de France, which starts in three weeks – faded on the final day, with the 2013 winner finishing 5min 5sec behind the stage winner, his Team Sky team-mate Mikel Nieve. The overall title went to the young American Andrew Talansky, part of an early escape that dominated the stage and held off a late chase from Spain’s Alberto Contador, the overnight leader after relieving Froome of the yellow jersey on Saturday. In the end the race came down to the two men fighting for every second on the final climb of the race to the stage finish at Courchevel. | Froome’s challenge in the Dauphiné –the warm-up to the Tour de France, which starts in three weeks – faded on the final day, with the 2013 winner finishing 5min 5sec behind the stage winner, his Team Sky team-mate Mikel Nieve. The overall title went to the young American Andrew Talansky, part of an early escape that dominated the stage and held off a late chase from Spain’s Alberto Contador, the overnight leader after relieving Froome of the yellow jersey on Saturday. In the end the race came down to the two men fighting for every second on the final climb of the race to the stage finish at Courchevel. |
| By this time, however, Froome was well out of the picture. He confessed afterwards that he was feeling the after-effects of a crash on Friday, revealing that he “was in a lot of pain, my thighs were blocked”, and adding on Twitter, “that crash took its toll on me”. | By this time, however, Froome was well out of the picture. He confessed afterwards that he was feeling the after-effects of a crash on Friday, revealing that he “was in a lot of pain, my thighs were blocked”, and adding on Twitter, “that crash took its toll on me”. |
| While the Tour winner eventually finished only 12th overall, the 21-year-old Briton Adam Yates – having participated in the stage-long escape with Talansky and company – finished third on the stage, just 5sec behind Nieve, and ended up sixth overall in his first professional season after riding strongly for the eight days. | While the Tour winner eventually finished only 12th overall, the 21-year-old Briton Adam Yates – having participated in the stage-long escape with Talansky and company – finished third on the stage, just 5sec behind Nieve, and ended up sixth overall in his first professional season after riding strongly for the eight days. |