Cycling: Causa Froome: professional cyclist Martin takes back UCI criticism

Four-time time trial world champion Tony Martin has withdrawn his harsh criticism of the UCI World Cycling Federation after the positive doping test of Tour de France winner Christopher Froome.

“According to the regulations, every athlete has the opportunity to explain himself/herself in the case of a violation, since the exceeded limit value may also have natural causes,” Martin stated on his homepage:”In this case, the UCI has therefore acted in accordance with the rules and Chris Froome has not received any special treatment.

After it became known last Wednesday that Froome’s Vuelta triumph in September in a doping test revealed an increased concentration of the asthma drug ointment Salbutamol, Martin accused the UCI of “definitely measuring with double standards”.

Martin received “a lot of feedback” after his criticism, among other things a representative of the UCI called him and explained the procedure in such a case.