Froome Blood to be Saved

Chris Froome’s blood and urine samples from the 2015 Tour de France along with those from the other top five finishers will be kept for 10 years in case retrospective analysis is required, cycling’s world governing body has announced.

The 30-year-old Kenya-born Briton’s performance in winning a second Tour title was subject to innuendo and allegation, all unsubstantiated.

The sport has a troubled history and the authorities are keen to guard against drug cheats if technology develops with the UCI, the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF) and French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) announcing on Friday that samples from the top five finishers at Grand Tours will be stored for a decade.

“The UCI, the CADF and the AFLD have agreed to keep the samples for potential retrospective analyses in the future,” a statement read.

“As for all Grands Tours, all the collected samples concerning the best five riders in the general classification will be kept for 10 years for potential retrospective analyses.”

A total of 656 anti-doping controls - 482 were blood tests and 174 urine tests - were carried out during the race, which began in Utrecht on 4 July and finished in Paris on 26 July, with Team Sky’s Froome in the race winner’s yellow jersey ahead of Colombia’s Nairo Quintana and Spain’s Alejandro Valverde.

The blood tests were analysed in relation to the biological passport, which may indicate use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Froome’s critics pointed to power data as evidence of malpractice, but he was tested repeatedly while in the race leader’s yellow jersey and targeted testing was in place. Froome and Team Sky have repeatedly and vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

The CADF director Dr Francesca Rossi said “the targeted control strategy was discussed daily taking into account the performance of riders and other data”.

Rossi added: “We strengthened our strategy of targeted controls thanks to the use of information provided by numerous sources and to the support of an intelligence coordinator.”

The UCI president Brian Cookson said: “We can be confident of the robustness of our programme.”

Katusha’s Italian rider Luca Paolini was expelled from the race after testing positive for cocaine, a recreational drug.

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Froome Confirms La Vuelta

Team Sky have confirmed Chris Froome as their leader for the Vuelta a España with the Tour de France champion looking to become the first Brit to win the Spanish race.

Froome, who won his second Tour de France in Paris in July,confirmed earlier this month that he would take part in the Vuelta but it was not known whether he would be targeting victory or playing a support role.

But Sky have confirmed that Froome will attempt to join Jacques Anquetil (1963) and Bernard Hinault (1978) in winning the Tour de France and the Vuelta in the same year.

The team principal, Sir Dave Brailsford, said: “It’s been an unforgettable summer for us after winning the Tour de France for the third time, but it’s important to move on quickly, realign our goals and focus on the new challenges ahead. We’ve selected a strong squad for the Vuelta that has the right blend of talent and experience to support Chris Froome through the tough three weeks ahead.”

Froome, who came to prominence in the 2011 Vuelta where he finished second having initially been selected to support Bradley Wiggins, will again be assisted by Geraint Thomas and Nicolas Roche as well as six other riders – Sergio Henao, Mikel Nieve, Vasil Kiryienka, Christian Knees, Ian Boswell, Salvatore Puccio – who were not involved in the Tour de France.

Froome said: “I have great memories from this race so I’m pleased to be back. I’ve had a good rest after the Tour and now I’m ready for my next challenge.

“It will certainly be a very competitive race given the strong field – which will be great for the fans to watch. The competition will be tough and this is bike racing so anything can happen, but we have an excellent team and we’re ready to get the race started.”

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Froome Set for Second Tour Title

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Chris Froome is set to become the first Briton to win the Tour de France twice after surviving a thrilling attack by Nairo Quintana on Alpe d'Huez.

Team Sky's Froome, 30, led Quintana by two minutes 38 seconds before the penultimate stage but the Colombian rode clear with 9km remaining.

Froome, champion in 2013, responded to limit his losses to just 80 seconds as France's Thibaut Pinot won the stage.

His 72-second lead will not be challenged on Sunday's finale in Paris.

The short 21st stage, which culminates in several laps around the centre of Paris, is largely ceremonial for the yellow jersey, however the stage is expected to end in a bunch sprint with Mark Cavendish chasing a fifth victory on the Champs-Elysees.

That meant Saturday's 110.5km route from Modane was billed as the decider between Froome and his rival Quintana, who had cut the gap by 32 seconds on the previous day's racing.

Quintana is regarded as an expert climber in the mountains, and while Froome clung on to his rival on the first ascent up Col de la Croix de Fer, the Movistar rider proved to have the edge when it came to the arduous 13.9km trek to the top of Alpe d'Huez.

Tour de France overall standings

Chris Froome Team Sky/Britain 81hrs 56mins 33secs

Nairo Quintana Movistar/Colombia +1min 12secs

Alejandro Valverde Movistar/Spain +5mins 25secs

Vincenzo Nibali Astana/Italy +8mins 36secs

Alberto Contador Tinkoff-Saxo/Spain +9mins 48secs

But Quintana will once again finish runner-up to Froome, as he did two years ago, although this is set to be the smallest winning margin since Carlos Sastre beat Cadel Evans by 58 seconds in 2008.

"It's hard to say if this was harder than 2013, but every day was flat out," said Froome, who is one of only two Britons to have won the Tour, along with Sir Bradley Wiggins.

"Next year I'll come back and renew the rivalry with Nairo. He's a great prospect, has a bright future, a great talent who races correctly, making his race at the right moment."

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Costa is World Champion

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Portugal's Rui Costa won a rain-soaked men's road race at the World Championships in Tuscany after Britain's Chris Froome withdrew.

Costa, 26, took the lead just yards from the finish as he beat Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez by a bike-length in seven hours, 25 minutes, 43 seconds.

Spaniard Alejandro Valverde took bronze, narrowly ahead of Italy's Vincenzo Nibali.

Tour de France champion Froome quit with more than 80km left.

"This has been a big dream of mine for a long time. I still can't believe I'm the world champion," said Costa, who broke down in tears on the podium.

Heavy rain caused multiple crashes early in the race, with none of the eight-strong British team, which included former Tour de France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins and ex-world champion Mark Cavendish, making it over the finishing line.

"The conditions are the same for everyone; we've got no excuse. We just weren't there," Froome, who was attempting to become the first man in 24 years to win the Tour and world road race in the same year, told BBC Sport.

"It's a big disappointment, especially having made it such a big objective, but with these conditions it just wasn't meant to be.

"The first three laps on the circuit, there were crashes everywhere. It's rained solidly all day. After three laps the split started happening and I looked around and realised I didn't have any team-mates left and it wasn't going to happen.

"Given we've come up empty-handed, we'll have to go back to the drawing board [ahead of the Rio Olympics in 2016]."

Froome's withdrawal meant Geraint Thomas was the only Briton left riding, but he also pulled out shortly after.

"It was just carnage out there," Thomas told BBC Sport. "I saw five or six crashes out in front of me.

"Once you're in that back half, you're kind of destined to get dropped. We all committed to try and get Froome there, but it wasn't meant to be."

Cavendish, the 2011 world champion, led the peloton and helped keep Britain in contention for much of the first 106km after the race left Lucca.

However, as soon as the race hit the first of 10 laps around Florence, featuring two significant climbs, the Italian squad took over the pace-setting and Cavendish fell away.

Wiggins, who had been expected to support Froome in the latter stages of the race, was always near the back of the peloton and soon retired along with Cavendish.

The punishing 16.5km circuits, coupled with the horrendous weather conditions, were taking their toll with riders dropping out at an average of around 15 a lap.

Poland's Bartosz Huzarski, who broke away with four other riders early in the race, held on to the lead for around 240km.

He was finally caught with a little over 25km remaining, by a group of 40 riders that included defending champion Philippe Gilbert and fellow pre-race favourites Peter Sagan of Slovakia and Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara.

However, the trio were unable to respond when Italy's Michele Scarponi, Rodriguez and Nibali attacked on the final 4.3km climb to Fiesole , eventually finishing in a group 34 seconds behind Costa.

Rodriguez rode away from Giro d'Italia champion Nibali, who had crashed on an earlier descent, but was unable to open a significant advantage on the final ascent of the 600m-long Via Salviati.

Costa broke clear of Nibali and Valverde to catch Rodriguez with one kilometre remaining, before making the decisive move in a laboured sprint to become the first Portuguese world champion.

"Losing like this is stupid," said a tearful Rodriguez. "Winning is all that matters so this medal doesn't mean anything to me right now.

"We (Spain) had the numbers; we were the strongest; we should not have lost."

Also in the British team were Ian Stannard, Josh Edmondson, Steve Cummings and Luke Rowe, who replaced Jonathan Tiernan-Locke.

Tiernan-Locke withdrew on Thursday for what he claimed was a lack of form, but it was revealed on Sunday that the UCI, the sport's governing body, is investigating a potential discrepancy in his "biological passport data".

Race result:

1. Rui Costa (Por) 7:25:44"

2. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) ST

3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) +15"

4. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita)

5. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) +31"

6. Peter Sagan (Svk) +34"

7. Simon Clarke (Aus)

8. Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz)

9. Philippe Gilbert (Bel)

10. Fabian Cancellara (Swi)

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Wiggins Returns to Polish Action

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Sir Bradley Wiggins will make his return to racing at the Tour of Poland.

The 33-year-old 2012 Tour de France champion and four-timeOlympic champion has been named in Team Sky's squad for the race, which begins on Saturday.

Wiggins withdrew from May's Giro d'Italia with a knee injury and chest infection, which then ruled him out of the 100th Tour de France.

Team-mate Chris Froome inherited his Tour title in Paris last Sunday.

Wiggins is joined in the Team Sky squad by Britons Luke Rowe and Ben Swift, Colombian duo Sergio Henao and Rigoberto Uran and American Danny Pate.

The first stage takes place in Italy, with Krakow the finish seven days later.

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Froome Wins Tour de France

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Chris Froome has won the 100th edition of the Tour de France, taking the title by more than four minutes, and libking arms with his team-mates as he crossed the line in Paris.

It is Britain's second successive victory in the race - Froome's Team Sky colleague Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first Briton to win it a year ago.

Marcel Kittel claimed the final stage in the twilight, with Manxman Mark Cavendish third in a hotly contested sprint along the Champs Elysees.

Cavendish was attempting a 26th Tour stage win - and a fifth on the trot in Paris - which would have put him third on the all-time list behind five-time Tour winners Eddy Merckx (34) and Bernard Hinault (28).

But he was edged out by a wheel length by Germany's Kittel and Andre Greipel in the French capital, with more than 350,000 spectators lining the streets.

Froome had finished runner-up last year but with Wiggins electing not to defend his title after injury problems , the 28-year-old was favourite to win the race and he brought the yellow jersey home in emphatic style, ahead of Colombian Nairo Quintana and Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain.

He had first taken the lead when he won the eighth of the 21 stages in a summit finish at Ax 3 Domaines in the Pyrenees.

The Briton, who was born and raised in Kenya, claimed a further two stages in hismaiden Tour de France title .

He told ITV4: "Crossing the line with [the] guys brought tears to my eyes. I expected it to be big but this is something else.

"Dave [Team Sky manager Sir Dave Brailsford] has been talking about the future of cycling - the youngsters coming through and the way the sport is moving. I look at the last decade and the way sport is going - we've got something to be proud of."

But in the first Tour since disgraced rider Lance Armstrong admitted to doping in his seven Tour de France wins , which have since been expunged from the records, Froome found himself having to answer questions about drugs in the sport.

He added: "I'm glad I've had to face those questions - after all the revelations of the last year. I'm glad that's been channelled towards me.

"I've been able to deal with it. Cycling has changed - the peloton is standing together."

In his victory speech while standing on the podium, Froome dedicated his triumph to his mother Jane, who died of cancer in 2008, for giving him "hopes and dreams".

"Without her encouragement to follow my dreams, I'd probably be at home watching this event on TV," he said. "It's a great shame she never got to come see the Tour, but I'm sure she'd be extremely proud if she were here tonight."

He also thanked his Team Sky colleagues for "burying themselves" for him during the gruelling race.

"I'd like to thank my team-mates, who have buried themselves day in day out throughout this Tour to keep this yellow jersey on my shoulders, and the Team Sky management for believing in my ability and building this team around me.

"This is one yellow jersey that will stand the test of time," he added, in a reference to doubters over doping suspicions.

The final stage started as a procession, as is the tradition, and the 170 riders headed off from Versailles with Rodriguez celebrating his third place overall by handing out cigars to fellow podium finishers Froome, donning a yellow bike, and Quintana.

The Brit was also handed a glass of celebratory champagne as he rode alongside a Team Sky car with its branding coloured in yellow, while he was surrounded by team-mates in special yellow-tinged sunglasses.

The sun was beginning to set as they arrived in the centre of Paris and Froome made sure his trusty wingman Richie Porte led the Sky train over the finish line of the Champs-Elysees on the first of 10 circuits.

A few riders attempted breakaways, included Britain's David Millar, but they were swallowed up by the peloton and it was left to the sprinters to contest the final straight.

Results of stage 21:

1. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Argos-Shimano 3 hours, 6 minutes, and 14 seconds

2. Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol +0

3. Mark Cavendish (GB) Omega Pharma-Quick Step +0

4. Peter Sagan (Slo) Cannondale +0

5. Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida +0

Overall classification - final standings

1. Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky 83 hours, 56 minutes, and 40 seconds

2. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar +4:20

3. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha +5:04

4. Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo-Tinkoff +6:27

5. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Saxo-Tinkoff +7:27

Selected others:

33. Daniel Martin (Ire) Garmin +1:13:08

39. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC +1:30:14

40. Nicolas Roche (Ire) Saxo-Tinkoff +1:34:17

77. Peter Kennaugh (GB) Team Sky +2:33:46

113. David Millar (GB) Garmin +3:14:25

135. Ian Stannard (GB) Team Sky +3:38:49

140. Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky +3:43:34

148. Mark Cavendish (GB) Omega Pharma-Quickstep +3:52:04

King of the mountains jersey - final standings

1. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar 147

2 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky 136

3. Pierre Rolland (Fra) Europcar 117

4. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha 99

5. Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R 98

Green points jersey - final standings

1. Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale 409

2. Mark Cavendish (GB) Omega Pharma - Quickstep 312

3. Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto 267

4. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Argos-Shimano 222

5. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha 177

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Froome Drops Time Trial for Road Race

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Chris Froome has withdrawn from Wednesday's time trial at the Road World Championships to focus on Sunday's road race.

Froome, who has competed in the Tour de France, Olympics and Vuelta a Espana, said he needed more time to recover.

The Team Sky rider's withdrawal means Alex Dowsett is Britain's only entrant in the 45.7km elite men's time trial.

In the women's event, Britain's Wendy Houvenaghel is aiming to impress after missing out on Olympic selection.

Froome, 27, finished an impressive second to Bradley Wiggins in the Tour de France in July.

He then won Olympic bronze behind his team-mate in the time trial at London 2012 before finishing fourth in the Vuelta a Espana.

Froome will team up with Mark Cavendish, Steve Cummings, Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift, Tour of Britain winner Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, Wiggins and Dowsett on Sunday to contest the 261km road race in Limburg, the Netherlands.

Houvenaghel was not selected for any of the three rides in the women's team pursuit at London 2012 as Joanna Rowsell, Laura Trott and Dani King won gold in a world record time.

However, the 37-year-old bounced back by winning the British Championships road time trial this month and followed that up with a win in the Chrono Champenois event in Betheny to justify her selection for the World Championships.

"I've spent most of the year training for a three-minute team pursuit effort and over the last four weeks I've just applied myself to time trialling," she said ahead of the 24.3km time trial. "I'm keen to get racing on Wednesday.

"The course is very rolling and there are a couple of quite steep climbs.

"I am good at climbing. In any of the time-trials where there have been hills I've done very well. That shouldn't pose too much of a problem for me.

"The course suits my strengths as a rider and I'll give it everything I've got."

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