Chris Froome avoided giving any new details about the status of his salbutamol case as he prepared to start the Tour of the Alps, simply insisting he is doing what he can to ensure the case reaches a timely verdict. The Team Sky captain sat next to Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) at the pre-race press conference on Sunday, facing questions about the race, his salbutamol case, and even the war in Syria and the political implications of the start of the Giro d`Italia in Israel next month. Froome had not spoken publicly about his salbutamol case since riding Tirreno-Adriatico in early March, only taking to Twitter to describe a report in Le Monde - which said the case had been sent to the UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal - as `fake news`. The tweet garnered both support and criticism but was later deleted.ADVERTISEMENT Froome`s urine sample from an anti-doping control, taken after stage 18 of the 2017 Vuelta a Espana, was found to have exceeded the permitted limit of the asthma drug salbutamol. The 32-year-old has always denied any wrongdoing and says he is a long-term asthma sufferer. He insists that he knows the rules and has never taken more salbutamol than he is allowed. Froome`s case emerged after reports in Le Monde and The Guardian on December 13. Because salbutamol is considered a `Specified Substance`, he is not automatically suspended from racing until a verdict is reached. Froome has refused to recuse himself from racing and is targeting victories at the Giro d`Italia and Tour de France in 2018. `As I said from the beginning, this whole process was meant to have been confidential. That`s no longer the case, so it`s not something I`m going to keep giving a running commentary on, and I don`t feel others should be doing that either,` Froome said. Not mixing sport and politics Targeting the Tour of the Alps
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