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news
Chris Froome celebrates winning the 2013 Tour de France (picture copyright Simon Wilkinson:SWpix.com)Chris Froome admits missing out-of-competition drugs tests
Chris Froome has admitted missing two out-of-competition drugs tests during his career – the first in 2010, the second earlier this year.
The latest missed test happened when he was on a break in Italy with his wife and hotel staff refused to allow drug testers access to the Team Sky rider when they arrived at 7am, reports Telegraph.co.uk.
He attributed the earlier one to his own carelessness, after he decided to go for a training ride and was away from home when testers turned during the hour he had fixed for out-of-competition testing.
Meeting the press ahead of the Tour de France, which starts a week on Saturday in Utrecht, Froome was asked his views on Mo Farah, recently revealed to have missed two out-of-competition anti-doping controls in 2010 and 2011.
Under the World Anti-Doping Code, athletes must notify their whereabouts at a set one-hour period each day via the ADAMS system, to allow out-of-competition tests to be carried out.
Three missed tests in a 12-month period is considered an anti-doping rule violation and can lead to a two-year ban.
Froome said: “I have missed a drugs test, earlier this year actually. I had a couple of recovery days and I took my wife down to quite an exclusive hotel down in Italy.
“And on the first morning we were down there the authorities pitched up at 7am and the hotel staff actually wouldn’t give them access to our room and even refused to let them call up to the room.
“So when we came down at 8.30am they said to us: ‘Oh, the anti-doping guys were here to test you this morning but it’s our hotel policy not to let anyone disturb our clients’.
“So that was a hugely frustrating situation for me. I did appeal it and try to explain the circumstances to the authorities but at the end of the day I do take responsibility for that missed test.
“I should have been more proactive in letting the hotel know that this is a possibility that I could be tested. I certainly learnt my lesson there.”
“Obviously I have stayed in hotels all over the world and I have been tested all over the world without any issues at all. Unfortunately I just didn’t see this one coming,” he continued.
“But yeah, it has opened my eyes and I am certainly going to be more proactive in the future. I think it is an athlete’s responsibility to make sure he or she is available for testing.”
As for that earlier missed test in 2010, Froome said: “Again it was careless on my side.”
While most athletes accept that the rules need to be in place, some have criticised the ADAMS system for being too onerous, for example when plans change at the last minute.
But according to the World Anti-Doping Agency, “athletes are ultimately responsible for their whereabouts.
“As a result, they cannot avoid responsibility by blaming their representative or the team for filing inaccurate information about their whereabouts or for not updating their whereabouts if they were not at the location specified by them during the 60-minute time-slot.”
Froome said he believed that missing two tests five years apart was probably not unusual. “I’m quite sure that a lot of guys have missed tests,” he explained. “It is common. But I would say it is unprofessional.”
He is not the first big-name British cyclist to have admitted missing an anti-competition test. In 2012, Mark Cavendish – reigning world champion at the time – confirmed he had missed one the previous year.
In a statement at the time, Cavendish said: “I missed an out-of-competition test last April, it was my mistake.
"I was with a film crew from the BBC and Giro d'Italia on Mount Etna. It was a simple, genuine admin error.
"Of course I totally understand the importance of testing in sport. I was tested by the UCI a couple of weeks before that and twice in the fortnight after and had around 60 tests in all last year.
"It's part of the job. And it's my job to make sure that I don't miss another," he added.
Froome also said he was in favour of night-time testing, identified by the UCI’s Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) as one way to tackle micro-dosing.
“I would imagine you would probably get a few grumpy people at 2am or 3am, but I would be willing to do it during the Tour de France,” he said.
He is the only current rider who agreed to be identified as having testified to the CIRC when it published its report earlier this year, said it was “disappointing” that so much attention was placed on one anonymous witness’s assertion that 90 per cent of the current peloton is doping – instead, he puts the figure at “Less than five per cent.”
He said: “I would be shocked if more than five per cent of the current peloton was doping. Maybe I am being overly optimistic but I don’t believe that any of my current performances would be possible if people were still doping.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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52 comments
Registered sex offenders are tracked less than pro athletes
There's no money in tracking sex offenders.
What he needs in order to avoid the hotel confusion is some sort of motor home.
Surely the Daily Mail will plaster this African immigrant all over the front page now?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tomfordyce/2011/07/life_on_the_uk_anti-doping...
Link to the original blog I mentioned in an earlier post
The journalist wrote this in the blog
'Call my mobile? I had turned it off overnight for the first time in years, thoughts only of a lie-in, but the DCO could not have called it anyway. Testing cannot be done without warning if your phone alerts you first.'
So mobiles, EMs are out. The article also descibes how long they will wait.
With regards to the missed test in the hotel, I don't understand how a sensible solution couldn't be found.
Did the testers not have his mobile phone number? His email address? Could they not have asked for a note to be put through his door? Could they not have waited? Could they not have said "we're here to do a drugs test, this could affect his reputation, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to be disturbed". I know it's not their responsibility to babysit, but a little common sense can go a long way.
It's as though they walked in, made no effort, walked away and considered it a job well done.
Exactly - hence why I believe he's either lying or not telling the whole truth about that missed test.
DaddyELVIS, I know your position on doping and Sky from your previous posts on this site. I don't want to get involved in that discussion.
I would recommend reading this blog on the BBC website.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/athletics/33189303
A journalist in 2011 followed the whereabouts system for a while and I found it interesting and illuminating. The article was posted again on the back of the Mo missed tests.
I suspect that even the most diligent of us could mess up and miss a test every now and again especially if we travel alot.
One missed test is not a doping violation.
It should raise a warning flag with the authorities. If i was in charge on anti-doping, and an athlete missed a test, then I would look to increase testing on that athlete for a while.
We know Froome missed one test (and Mo missed two within 18 months) - but we don't know the frequency of their tests, and how many were conducted normally, so we certainly don't have all the facts
The fact that the rules are written so athletes are able to miss up to 2 tests within a year ... is because this sort of thing does happen.
Seemed reasonable to me - as a 'one off'
Quite - he could conceivably have been tested the day before and the day after, but lets not let that get in the way of a good witch-hunt.
Chris Froome's palmares can be summarised as: before 2010 won the Tour de Jockstrap; after 2010 (2nd in Vuelta) grand tour contender/winner. It truly beggars belief. It's unfortunate that Lance tarnished the "the miraculous recovery from illness to GT winner" trope or else we'd all be wearing green wristbands in support of the Froomarzia foundation. Contador, Valverde etc aren't any better, but for me Froome's success leaves an especially bad taste in the mouth.
Surely there is some leeway.
Miss one test, fine. Miss two, three, four in a row then something is suspicious.
Every biography I've read has touched on this subject and most professional sportsmen/women seem to have missed at least one at some point in their career.
Bored of pre TDF witch hunts and 'cyclists are all on drugs' but unfortunately the press think it's an easy target and sells papers or web advertising space.
perhaps I'm naïve but I've been a cycling fan since the late 80's and I've seen it all before.
Goes out for a ride during the hour HE fixed for random testing! At best unprofessional, at worst avoiding a dope test! Which is it?
Probably option c. Forgetfullness / not checking the diary. I suspect most people have missed an appointment they've booked, I know I have.
I imagine he's a pretty busy fella..
It's not an appointment - it's the same 1 hour slot every day when you are expected to be available for out of competition testing. So as a top professional athlete that slot becomes part of your daily routine!
Also, regarding the missed test in the hotel - that one is a bit unbelievable too!
Well, having actually read the story, Froome had logged his break on the whereabouts system, but forgot to notify the Hotel staff that he might be visited by testers - why they didn't just have a coffee and wait a while baffles me, where else are they going in a rural part of Italy? - which seems reasonable in my opinion but it seems that you're unlikely to believe anything anyway.
No, it's not. See ISTI Annex I 1.1 (b).
Not necessarily routine, it's specified on a per day basis.
Yes, but it is specified by the athlete - it is their chosen time slot(s), therefore is part of their routine / planner / call it what you will. Or do you win the Tour by not attending to every detail?
Rule: 60 minute timeslot: The Athlete must provide, for each day during the following quarter, one specific 60-minute time-slot between 6 am and 11 pm each day where the Athlete will be available and accessible for Testing at a specific location. (See IST clause 11.3.2). If circumstances change so that the Athlete will no longer be at that location at that time, he/she should update his/her Whereabouts Filing to identify a new time-slot and/or a new location for the original time-slot
Given that the testers turned-up at hotel, he obviously had updated his whereabouts and given a timeslot - so why did he not inform hotel staff of the timeslot too? Hotel was in Italy and I'm guessing other athletes and cyclists have stayed there, so I would think the staff would understand the situation.
Yes, but it is specified by the athlete - it is their chosen time slot(s), therefore is part of their routine / planner / call it what you will. Or do you win the Tour by not attending to every detail?
Rule: 60 minute timeslot: The Athlete must provide, for each day during the following quarter, one specific 60-minute time-slot between 6 am and 11 pm each day where the Athlete will be available and accessible for Testing at a specific location. (See IST clause 11.3.2). If circumstances change so that the Athlete will no longer be at that location at that time, he/she should update his/her Whereabouts Filing to identify a new time-slot and/or a new location for the original time-slot
Given that the testers turned-up at hotel, he obviously had updated his whereabouts and given a timeslot - so why did he not inform hotel staff of the timeslot too? Hotel was in Italy and I'm guessing other athletes and cyclists have stayed there, so I would think the staff would understand the situation.
I thought it was from very early in the morning till late at night they called un-announced for testing.
My dE you seem to have a bee in your bonnet, chill out, its only one missed test.
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