Froome says 'huge weight' lifted

Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome said yesterday that being cleared of doping allegations had lifted a “huge weight” from his shoulders, describing the saga as “like your worst nightmare”.

The British rider had been barred from taking part in world cycling’s biggest race, which gets underway on Saturday, until organisers dramatically lifted the ban on Monday.

 Froome, 33, said he felt dizzy last year when a lawyer from the sport’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), informed him he had recorded more than the allowed dose of the legal asthma drug Salbutamol during September’s Vuelta a Espana.