Walsh admits he no longer trusts Chris Froome as he used to

David Walsh, the journalist who played a crucial role in uncovering Lane Amrstrong’s doping programme, has admitted he no longer trusts Chris Froome as he used to.

Walsh has been a long-time defender of Froome’s reputation in the face of years of speculation about the cyclist and Team Sky’s commitment to their clean-riding mantra.

But he said that in the wake of Froome testing for double the permitted limit of the asthma drug Salbutamol during the Vuelta a Espana, which Froome went on to win, that “it leaves [Froome] with a question that will take some answering”.

“There is a threshold level and Froome exceeded that by 100%,” Walsh wrote in the Sunday Times. “He has to explain how that amount of Salbutamol got into his body. If the authorities are not satisfied, he will be banned and stripped of his Vuelta a Espana title.

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“The greater punishment will be to his reputation... he will be seriously damaged. Four Tour de France victories diminished in one asterisk.”

Walsh said he spoke to Froome for an hour on Friday evening in a “fraught, difficult conversation” in which the rider reiterated his innocence. When Walsh suggested he should have accepted responsibility when he was informed of the test result in September, Froome was “disgusted” by the idea.

Walsh added: “The hardest thing about our conversation on Friday evening was telling him that I no longer trusted him in the way that I once did.”

Meanwhile the former head of cycling’s governing body, the UCI, has finally admitted he knew about Froome’s adverse test result before leaving his post.

Brian Cookson lost the UCI’s presidential election on 21 September and was replaced by David Lappartient, the day after Team Sky were informed of the issue.

When approached by The Independent this week, Cookson’s representatives sent a statement insisting that as UCI president he had “no role or influence in any case” and could not comment further.

However, on Saturday he admitted: “I was informed that Chris Froome had provided an A sample with an anomalous result for a substance that did not result in an immediate provisional suspension in the last 24 hours of my tenure at UCI.

“When I left the UCI the following day, the matter passed to the new President and, rightly, I was no longer informed about the matter. I cannot comment further on this or any other ongoing case.”