No matter how Team Sky attempt to address this particular situation, there's no getting away from the bare facts. On September 7, in a routine anti-doping test conducted at the Vuelta a España, Chris Froome exceeded the limit permitted for salbutamol. The A and B samples collected confirmed that the Team Sky leader had double the legal limit of 1,000ng/ml of the asthma medication floating around his system.
Although not strictly a positive test – and it must be stressed that Froome has not been suspended at this point – the Team Sky leader is left fighting for his career and reputation, not to mention the Vuelta title that could now be stripped from his palmares. However, with no fixed timeline for the case, and with lawyers now the most important protagonists in any form of resolution, Team Sky once again find themselves centre stage.
Unlike the Jiffy-bag saga, Team Sky were quick off the mark in their response to the news surrounding Froome. Before the UCI statement had even landed, the WorldTour squad – aware that Le Monde and the Guardian were publishing reports on the matter – issued a statement in which they mentioned cooperating with the authorities and providing relevant evidence. But what also stood out within the carefully worded statement was just how much of this was about Froome and not the team.
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Take the opening section, for example. Team Sky's first three words – which were repeated in successive sentences – were "Chris Froome responds." Not the team, but "Chris".
Then analyse Dave Brailford's insistence that "I have the utmost confidence that Chris followed the medical guidance." In fact, in the main body copy of the release, Team Sky mention Froome five times. The statement mentions Team Sky by name just once, when they introduce an as yet unnamed doctor who has offered Froome medical advice during the Vuelta. The only person who emphasises "the team" is Froome himself.
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A possible ban and zero tolerance
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