Cycling: Froome to ride out asthma drug row in Spain

Great Britain's Christopher Froome wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey drinks champagne as he takes the start of the 103 km twenty-first and last stage of the 104th edition of the Tour de France cycling race on July 23, 2017 between Montgeron and Paris Champs-Elysees. / AFP PHOTO

Chris Froome will start his 2018 season as the favourite for Spain’s Ruta del Sol tomorrow, defying calls from senior figures in world cycling to withdraw from racing over the adverse drug test result he returned last September.

The four-time Tour de France winner had twice the permissible amount of the asthma medication Salbutamol in his system after stage 18 of the Tour of Spain - a race he went on to win - but the Team Sky rider, who says he has done nothing wrong, did not receive a provisional suspension.