Froome rejected TUE on ‘moral grounds’

Three-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome rejected a therapeutic use exemption to treat a medical condition during his 2015 win on moral grounds.

The Briton, who rides for Team Sky, was granted TUEs twice previously, in May 2013 and April 2014, to treat asthma.

Froome was told he had a condition that required a TUE during the 2015 Tour.

However, he said: “I didn’t feel having a TUE in the last week of the Tour was something I was prepared to do. It did not sit well morally with me.”

In 2013 Froome’s TUE allowed him to use prednisolone for his asthma for a week before winning the Criterium du Dauphine – a week-long race in June which is usually a good indicator of form leading into July’s Tour de France – while in 2014 he took it for a week during the Tour de Romandie, as he defended his title.

Question. Why did he not reject the TUE on equally moral grounds the previous two times, just before winning the Criterium du Dauphine and before defending the Tour de Romandie? Is this actually just a case of being holier than thou? 

I realise I have now lite the blue touch paper so I will stand back.