"It's a real scandal. This has to stop." - Bernard Hinault

French retired cyclists Bernard Hinault has aired his thoughts on Chris Froome's win at the Giro d’Italia victory on Tuesday, saying that the Team Sky rider does not belong in the pantheon of cyclist such as himself and Eddy Merckx. In Rome on Sunday, Froome joined those two famous names by winning Grand Tours consecutively, having won last year’s Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

Bernard Hinault completed his wins between the 1982 and 1983 seasons, went as far as saying that Froome should not have even been on the start line  "Froome does not belong on that list," Hinault said, according to Belgian publication Het Laatste Nieuws. "He returned a positive test at the Vuelta and afterwards his B-sample proved positive, so he has used doping and he has to be suspended.

"He should never have been allowed to start in the Giro. Why do we have to wait so long for a verdict? Those two Italians who had the same thing [Alessandro Petacchi and Diego Ulissi -ed.] were suspended much faster. With what right does Froome get so much time to find an explanation? Is it because Sky has so much money?"

Froome is currently under investigation after an anti-doping test during the 2017 Vuelta a España, which he went on to win, showed him to have double the permitted levels of the asthma drug salbutamol in his urine. It remains for the British rider and his legal team must now prove that he did not exceed the allowed dosage in order to avoid a suspension. As salbutamol is a 'specified' substance on WADA's banned list, Froome is allowed to compete while the investigation is going on. Both Petacchi and Ulissi received immediate bans for elevated levels of salbutamol even though it took nine months for a verdict to be reached in Ulissi’s case.

Last week, UCI president David Lappartient told the emdia that he could not guarantee that Froome’s case would be resolved by the time the Tour de France begins in July. Also, could also not confirm whether or not the results that Froome earns during the time of the investigation will be removed if he is handed a suspension.

"This is all very sad," added Hinault. "Froome is not part of the legend of the sport, because what image does he give cycling? He may also start the Tour later."

"It’s a real scandal. This has to stop."

Bernard Hinault Bio

OSMedia @optimum_sports

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Geraint Thomas Returns to Flanders

Getty Images

Team Sky's Geraint Thomas returns to action for the first time since withdrawing from the Volta a Catalunya in Sunday's Tour of Flanders.

The 29-year-old Welshman won the Paris-Nice stage race in early March, but struggled with fatigue in Spain.

Thomas was favourite going into the 2015 Tour of Flanders, but has had a low-key build up this time.

"There's less expectation around me [but] we've got a super strong team," Thomas told BBC Radio Wales.

"We've got lots of cards to play so as long as one of us is on the top step on the podium that would be awesome."

Team Sky have never won one of cycling's big five annual one-day races - known as "The Monuments" - and Fabian Cancellara of Leopard Trek is the fancied rider this year.

Thomas believes he has benefited from resting after his withdrawal in Catalunya.

The double Olympic gold-medallist also thinks his team are closer to claiming victory after disappointments in previous years.

"It's all good now, I'm feeling healthy," he added.

"I had maybe four days off because I was run down after Paris-Nice, but I'm better now so it was a good call in the end.

"In previous years in some of the warm-up races I've been right there, but this is the big one everyone wants to do well in.

"And over the years for one reason or another it hasn't quite happened but hopefully this can be the year. I guess time will tell."

Team Sky (at the Tour of Flanders): Michal Golas, Christian Knees, Michal Kwiatkowski, Gianni Moscon, Salvatore Puccio, Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard, Geraint Thomas

The "Five Monuments" of cycling

Milan-San Remo - First raced in 1907

Tour of Flanders - First raced in 1912

Paris-Roubaix - First raced in 1896

Liege-Bastogne-Liege - The oldest of the five, first raced in 1894

Giro di Lombardia - Raced in early autumn since 1905

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Martin Finishes Third Volta a Catalunya

Nairo Quintana has become the third Colombian to win the Volta a Catalunya, with Great Britain’s Chris Froome finishing eighth overall.

Sunday’s final stage through Montjuic Park in Barcelona was won by Alexey Tcatevich but Froome finished the stage in 19th.

The reigning Tour de France champion, 30, battled through the final stage, attempting to put some distance between himself and Quintana and was clear in front for a period of the race before being pegged back by the chasing pack. The Colombian follows in the footsteps of his countrymen Álvaro Mejía and Hernan Buenahora, who won the race in 1993 and 1998 respectively

Froome’s compatriot Hugh Carthy finished the competition in ninth with Team Sky finishing third.

Dan Martin, the 2013 winner, finished third overall, 17 seconds behind Quintana and on the same time as defending champion Richie Porte of Australia.

Quintana, who took the lead at the end of the fourth stage of the week-long race in Spain, said: "There's a lot of emotion to have been able to beat my rivals. It gives me confidence that we are working well."

Final Classification

1. Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar) 30hrs 50mins 19secs

2. Alberto Contador (Spa/Tinkoff) +7secs

3. Daniel Martin (Ire/Etixx - Quick-Step) +17secs

4. Richie Porte (Aus/BMC Racing) Same time

5. Tejay van Garderen (US/BMC Racing) +27secs

6. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R) +31secs

7. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus/Katusha) +42secs

8. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) +46secs

9. Hugh Carthy (GB/Caja Rural) +1min 01secs

10. Rigoberto Uran (Col/Cannondale) +1min 16secs

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Froome Sticks with Sky

Chris Froome said it was an easy decision to extend his contract with Team Sky to the end of 2018 because “their values are my values”.

The double Tour de France winner tweeted: “Thrilled to announce my extension with @TeamSky until end of 2018. Looking forward to many more successes together!”

The 30-year-old joined Sky in 2010, where he acted as a super-domestique for Bradley Wiggins in the 2012 Tour de France, finishing second overall to his team-mate. He went on to win the event following year and then again in 2015.

Sir Dave Brailsford, the team principal, told the Team Sky website: “Chris is not only one of the most talented and dedicated riders in the world, he is also a fantastic ambassador for the sport.

“Team Sky is proud to have him as our team leader. He is a winner and it is a great boost at the start of the new season that he has committed to stay with the team to the end of 2018. He is hungry for more success and we will help him achieve it.”

Froome said: “Team Sky have been fundamental to my success to date, so it was a very easy decision to commit to the team until the end of 2018. Their values are my values and I am proud to ride for a team that has shown that you can win the biggest bike races in the world clean.

He said that “2015 was a fantastic year for me both professional and personally and this is a great kickstart to 2016. I am more motivated than I have ever been and I have got big targets for this Olympic year. I can’t wait to start racing.”

Froome plans to start his 2016 campaign at the Herald Sun Tour in Australia at the start of next month.

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Grand Depart in Duesseldorf

Düsseldorf is to host the Grand Départ of the 2017 Tour de France. The city council voted 40-39 in favour of applying last month after London withdrew for cost reasons.

It will be the first time for 30 years Germany has hosted the Grand Départ, since West Berlin in 1987.

It will be the fourth time in the race’s century-old history that cycling’s showpiece starts in Germany. The 2016 tour starts in La Manche in northern France on 2 July.

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New Dimension for Cavendish

Team MTN-Qhubeka will be known as Team Dimension Data from 2016 in a move that could pave the way for Mark Cavendish to join them.

As MTN-Qhubeka, the African team have made a big impact at this year’s Tour de France, where the Briton Steve Cummings won the 14th stage on Mandela Dayand Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot became the first African to wear the race’s King of the Mountains jersey.

Cavendish, a 26-time Tour de France stage winner, has been linked with the squad, with his three-year Etixx-Quick-Step deal expiring imminently.

The 30-year-old raced for the Belgian squad for the final time after sustaining a shoulder injury in crashing out of the Tour of Britain, won by MTN-Qhubeka’s Edvald Boasson Hagen.

The sponsorship of the UCI Professional Continental team by Dimension Data is anticipated to take it to the next level, and the global IT company will continue to support the Qhubeka charity, which has provided more than 4,000 bicycles in its BicyclesChangeLives campaign.

The team principal Douglas Ryder said: “We are incredibly excited to have Dimension Data become our new title partner. It enables us to continue to support the development of African cycling and the Qhubeka charity at the highest levels in world cycling.

“This is the next step in our journey and we look forward to accelerating our collective ambitions through this partnership.”

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Roche Vuelta Stage for Sky

La Vuelta

Nicolas Roche gave Team Sky the victory they were longing for in this Vuelta when he won the 18th stage while Tom Dumoulin held off his main rival to retain the overall lead.

Ireland's Roche beat breakaway companion Haimar Zubeldia (Trek Factory) of Spain in a two-man sprint after going solo in the last climb of the 204-km ride from Roa to Riaza.

Jose Goncalves (Caja Rural) took third place 18 seconds behind while Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) won the sprint of the favourites' group to end up fourth, 38 seconds off the pace, as Movistar took over from Sky at the top of the team classification.

Overall, Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) still leads Fabio Aru (Astana) by three seconds after the Italian climber repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, attacked in the last climb.

Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) remains third, 1:15 adrift of Dutchman Dumoulin. 

Talansky (Cannondale-Garmin) called it quits after suffering from a cough for days while Terpstra (Etixx-Quick Step) abandoned after hurting his knee with his handlebars during yesterday's time trial.

Velits (BMC Racing), Van den Broeck (Lotto-Soudal) and Meyer (Orica-GreenEDGE) did not start either.

A group of 25 riders formed the day's breakaway.

Roche (Sky), Minard (Ag2r), Atapuma (BMC), Gonçalves and Madrazo (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Lemoine and Rollin (Cofidis), Serry (Etixx-Quick Step), Courteille (FDJ), Pellaud and Reynes (IAM), Durasek (Lampre-Merida), De Clercq, Hansen and Van der Sande (Lotto-Soudal), Rojas (Movistar), Jim (MTN-Qhubeka), Cardoso (Cannondale-Garmin), Cousin and Gautier (Europcar), Vorganov (Katusha), Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo), Bennati, Poljanski (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Zubeldia (Trek) were the fugitives. De Clerq's presence in the break, though, was a threat to Meintjes's 10th place in the GC and his MTN-Qhubeka team controlled the gap, which rose up to six minutes.

Astana took their share of work with about 50 kilometres left.

Vicioso launched an attack meant to serve as a launchpad for Rodriguez, who joined him shortly afterwards, but both were calmly reined in by the Astana-led peloton 35 km from the finish.

In the last climb to the Puerto de la Quesera (10 km at 5.2 per cent), Roche left his breakaway companions before being joined by Zubeldia. 

At the beginning of the ascent, Aru attacked the group of favourites but Dumoulin managed to stay in his wheel.

Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE) then jumped away from the red jersey group and was joined by Nieve (Team Sky), Valverde (Movistar) and Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo). But they regrouped and the red jersey pack caught most of the fugitives in the final descent, with only Roche, Zubeldia and Goncalves staying ahead.

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Froome in Vuelta Trouble

Chris Froome’s hopes of winning the Vuelta a Espana are all but over after he sustained heavy losses on a brutally mountainous 11th stage won by breakaway rider Mikel Landa.

Froome (Team Sky) crashed early in the stage and was then dropped on the fourth of the day's six climbs, eventually crossing the line 7min 19sec behind Fabio Aru (Astana), who took the race lead by finishing second.

It leaves Froome 7min 30sec adrift of the red jersey and means he will almost certainly be unsuccessful in his bid to become only the third rider in history to complete the Tour de France-Vuelta a Espana double.

The 30-year-old Briton was limping heavily when he dismounted his bike at the end of the stage and was later taken to hospital for X-rays.

Aru, meanwhile, attacked twice on the final climb to Cortals d'Encamp to finish 1min 22sec down on team-mate Landa and, crucially, 1min 37sec ahead of previous race leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin). 

The result was enough to elevate him into the race leader's red jersey and open up gaps of 27 seconds over second-placed Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and 30 seconds over Dumoulin, who is now third.

Froome was not the only big-name rider to suffer on one of the hardest grand tour stages ever devised, as Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) lost 1min 42sec and 2min 57sec to Aru respectively.

Valverde is now 1min 52sec off the lead in sixth, while Quintana's chances of overall victory look remote after he fell to 3min 7sec down in ninth. Froome was relegated to 15th.

After the stage, Geraint Thomas (Team Sky), who stayed with Froome, toldEurosport: "He obviously had a heavy crash and he said his foot was quite bad. He said his legs were OK, but on that especial-category climb, the fourth climb, he started to suffer and when Astana really lit it up, he got dropped.

Froome was taken for X-rays after the stage

"I was about to get dropped myself anyway, so I sat up and waited for him. He seemed to come around on the last climb but we just had to keep going. He always keeps fighting and that's what we did. Not the ideal day.

"Froomey keeps fighting and he is still in the race, so he can go for stages or whatever. Obviously it's disappointing to be out of the GC now. Not a good day for Froomey."

Landa formed part of the day's 19-man breakaway but attacked at the foot of the final climb and never looked in danger of being denied a Vuelta win to go with the two stage victories he took at May's Giro d'Italia.

Back down the road, and with Froome out of the picture, all of the remaining race favourites started up the final climb together, but then Aru attacked with about 8.5km to go and only Rodriguez and Daniel Moreno (Katusha) could follow.

Aru dropped the pair with a second attack 2km later and continued to set a fierce pace as he looked to overhaul his 1min 13sec deficit to Dumoulin at the start of the day.

Dumoulin was initially dropped by a chase group containing all of the other race favourites, but he later caught back up to them and then even distanced both Valverde and Quintana as his remarkable climbing form at the Vuelta continued.

The race continues on Thursday with a 173km 12th stage from Escaldes-Engordany to Lleida, which should end in a sprint.

Stage 11 result

1 Mikel Landa (Esp) Astana, 4:34:54

2 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana, +1:22

3 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky, +1:40

4 Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha, +1:57

5 Joaquim Rodriguez (Esp) Katusha, +1:59

6 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo, +2:10

7 Mikel Nieve (Esp) Team Sky, +2:10

8 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, +2:59

9 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +2:59

10 Diego Rosa (Ita) Astana, +3:02

General classification

1 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana, 43:12:19

2 Joaquim Rodriguez (Esp) Katusha, +27

3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +30

4 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo, +1:28

5 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, +1:29

6 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +1:52

7 Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha, +1:54

8 Mikel Nieve (Esp) Team Sky, +1:58

9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +3:07

10 Louis Meintjes (RSA) MTN-Qhubeka, +4:15

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