Bernard Hinault calls for riders to strike if Chris Froome races in Tour de France

ByReuters

Updated 21/06/2018 at 10:14 GMT

Five-times Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault has called for riders to strike if defending champion Chris Froome, who is under investigation over an adverse doping test, takes part in this year's race.

Title holder Britain's Chris Froome poses in front of a map of the official route of the 2018 edition of the Tour de France cycling race during its presentation in Paris, on October 17, 2017.

Image credit: Getty Images

Froome tested positive for excessive levels of the asthma drug Salbutamol following a urine sample at last year's Vuelta a Espana.

The 33-year-old has denied any wrongdoing and is confident that he will be cleared after the investigation by the sport's governing body Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

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"Christopher Froome should not be at the start of the Tour," Hinault was quoted as saying by British media.

The peloton should put its feet to the ground and say, if he is starting the race, we won't start.

Quite simply because he has tested positive, for me this is not an abnormal test. The people at the UCI should have said, you have been caught, so you should not be racing.

Hinault has said that Froome should not have been allowed to compete at the Giro d'Italia and that the Briton cannot be listed among the sport's greats.

Froome, who has won the Tour de France four times, became the first Briton to win the Giro d'Italia in May.

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