Amaury Sport Organisation has forbidden Team Sky from registering Chris Froome.GETTY IMAGES
Chris Froome "might not be able to compete" at the Tour de France this year, according to Guillou & Dupré of LE MONDE. Race organizer Amaury Sport Organisation is reportedly "trying to prevent Froome from taking part in the Tour." ASO has forbidden Team Sky to "sign Froome in, in an attempt to protect" its own image, as his doping procedure "is still pending." Team Sky said, "We are confident that Chris will be riding the Tour as we know he has done nothing wrong." ASO was "not immediately available for comment." Froome "is still allowed to race as long as the case regarding his abnormal salbutamol doping control has not been settled." But the Tour "does not want to find itself in the same situation" that the Giro d'Italia was in earlier this year. Froome won the Giro, but it is unclear "what will become of his victory" (LE MONDE, 7/1).
LINGERING PROBLEM: In London, Sean Ingle reported Team Sky is appealing against the decision to the court of arbitration of the French Olympic Committee, which will reportedly consider the case on Tuesday and "make its decision known on the following day." Whatever it decides, the decision "could be appealed" to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but it will "probably not have a chance to rule on the case before the beginning of the Tour." Tour de France Dir Christian Prudhomme "admitted the lack of a verdict on Froome was far from ideal." He said, "It's terrible that the sporting authorities have not managed to solve this problem before the start of the world's biggest race" (GUARDIAN, 7/1). In London, Tom Cary reported Froome "is fighting to clear his name after returning an adverse analytical finding" for asthma drug salbutamol at last year's Vuelta a España. Froome "vehemently denies any wrongdoing" and said last week that, "while he understood it was a sensitive issue, he felt he had done nothing wrong" and therefore has "every right" to ride the Tour (TELEGRAPH, 7/1).
