Velo Podcast

The latest edition of the Cyclingnews Podcast could only be about one thing: Chris Froome and his adverse analytical finding for salbutamol. 

News of what could be one of the biggest stories in recent cycling history broke on Wednesday morning as Team Sky and the UCI pre-empted the revelations that were about to land from Le Monde and the Guardian.

The facts are as follows: 2000 ng/ml of asthma medication salbutamol, double the permissible amount, was found in Froome’s urine in an anti-doping test after stage 18 of the 2017 Vuelta a España, on September 7.

Beyond that we find grey areas and blurred lines aplenty, and in this episode of the podcast Daniel Benson and Patrick Fletcher are joined by Procycling magazine editor Ed Pickering to dissect the complexities and look at what’s at stake.

Froome, as it stands, has not been suspended and is free to compete, but the onus is on him and Team Sky to prove that he did not exceed the permitted dosages and that the test result was an anomaly. If they cannot provide a satisfactory explanation, he faces a ban of up to two years and would be stripped of his Vuelta title.

We discuss the intricacies of the case, and what this means for Froome, for Team Sky, and for cycling in general.

The Grand Tour landscape for 2018 continues to develop with the unveiling of next year’s Giro d’Italia route on Wednesday evening. The 3,546.2-kilometre, three-week event starts in Israel and takes in just 44.2km of time trialling and a total of eight summit finishes. 

Perhaps the biggest news of the evening was the confirmation that Chris Froome would make a return after an eight-year absence, to attempt the fabled Giro-Tour double. 

In the latest edition of the Cyclingnews podcast Daniel Benson and Sadhbh O’Shea, joined by Procycling editor Ed Pickering, take a closer look at the route, ask if Froome can achieve where others have failed in the last 20 years and discuss the political challenges faced by the organisers by bringing the race to Israel. 

We also hear from this year’s champion Tom Dumoulin and Cyclingnews’ European editor Stephen Farrand, who was at the route announcement, makes a guest appearance to give us his thoughts on the route.