Vuelta a España director Javier Guillén has described Chris Froome`s adverse analytical finding (AAF) for salbutamol in last year`s race as a `heavy blow` and says he hopes the case will be resolved soon. `We just hope it is sorted out soon,` Guillen told Cyclingnews after the presentation of the Vuelta route for 2018 on Saturday in the southern city of Estepona. `It`s concerning. We can`t take any part in it, either in favour or against, obviously, but as the curtain goes up on the 2018 season, we need some certainty. And the sooner the better.` Speaking later to the Spanish news agency EFE, Guillén described the news of Froome`s AAF as a `heavy blow.`ADVERTISEMENT The UCI has revealed that Froome returned an AAF at the 2017 Vuelta a España for twice the permissible dose of the asthma medication salbutamol. The test took place September 7 following stage 18 of the Vuelta, a race which Froome won overall. In terms of the 2018 route, Guillén acknowledged to Cyclingnews that `the opening section is a bit easier than last year. But it hasn`t lost the essence of what the first Vuelta week is, with three summit finishes in the opening nine days. But I`d say the decisive part of the race is pretty much the same, even if there are three summit finishes in the second weekend.` Summit finishes at La Camperona, Praeres and Lagos de Covadonga feature on stages 13, 14, and 15, which is a tougher combination than in the 2017 Vuelta, which had the Sierra de la Pandera and Sierra Nevada summit finishes at an equivalent point in the race.
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