GRUELLING COURSE
Plenty of tests as Froome looms large over Tour de France
Paris — Reigning champion Chris Froome will be among those embarking on the 2018 Tour de France on Saturday after being cleared of doping suspicions, but an army of detractors, talented rivals and a course that does not suit him still stand in the way of his fifth title. Organisers lifted a ban on the British rider after he was cleared by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Cycling Union of all wrongdoing and an antidoping case against him was dropped. But the case has created a tense atmosphere that Team Sky’s Froome will have to deal with mentally after it triggered a chorus of opposition against him. Tour great Bernard Hinault called on Tour riders to strike in protest if Froome were to take part, and the way the organisers ASO banned him before he was cleared could hardly have made the champion feel welcome. The race is, as Ireland’s Dan Martin described it, "a tale of two halves" with a flattish first part featuring treacherous cobbles and crosswinds followed by ...
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