British road cyclist Chris Froome returned an abnormal drug test result during his victory in this year's Spanish Vuelta, his Sky team and the governing body UCI confirmed on Wednesday.
Froome's samples showed a high level of the asthma drug salbutamol in a test taken on September 7, following Stage 18 of the Vuelta, Sky said in response to a report published by Britain's Guardian newspaper and the French paper Le Monde.
"The analysis of the B sample has confirmed the results of the rider's A sample and the proceedings are being conducted in line with the UCI Anti-Doping Rules," the UCI said in a statement. Salbutamol was in Froome's urine sample at a concentration of 2,000 nanograms per millilitre (ng/ml), twice the World Anti-Doping Agency threshold of 1,000ng/ml.
The 32-year-old made history in September when he became the first rider to win the Vuelta and Tour de France in the same year since Bernard Hinault did so in 1978.
The four-time Tour de France winner is trying to challenge the findings, according to the British paper. If he is not successful, he could forfeit his Vuelta title and face a ban which could end his hopes of a first Giro d'Italia in 2018.
"It is well known that I have asthma and I know exactly what the rules are," Froome said in a statement.
Froome’s use of asthma medication has been well documented, and the Kenyan-born rider has often been spotted using inhalers in the peloton. He has repeatedly faced questions on whether he is a clean rider, especially during the Tour de France, and has always denied wrongdoing.
Salbutamol is a drug that helps expand lung capacity and can be used as a performance-enhancing drug to increase endurance. Commonly marketed as Ventolin, salbutamol is classified as a beta-2 agonist and WADA allows it to be taken through inhalation only, in limited amounts.
The UCI said in a statement that Froome’s “B” sample confirmed the result, but stressed that “the presence of a specified substance such as salbutamol in a sample does not result in the imposition of such mandatory provisional suspension against the rider.”
