Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome said yesterday that being cleared of doping allegations had lifted a “huge weight” from his shoulders, describing the saga as “like your worst nightmare”. 
The British rider had been barred from taking part in world cycling’s biggest race, which gets underway on Saturday, until organisers dramatically lifted the ban on Monday. 
Froome, 33, told the Times in a interview he felt dizzy last year when a lawyer from the sport’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), informed him he had recorded more than the allowed dose of the legal asthma drug Salbutamol during September’s Vuelta a Espana.
“It has been like your worst nightmare,” said Kenyan-born Froome, speaking to The Times from his apartment in Monte Carlo.
“It was the phone call I never thought I would ever receive.
“Tim Kerrison (his Team Sky Australian coach) was walking around and I told him, ‘I can’t believe what I just heard’.
“You do everything right then this nightmare. I actually felt dizzy. I climbed off (a turbo trainer) and immediately just started googling to learn what I could about Salbutamol, about thresholds.”
Froome won the Vuelta and went on to add the Giro this year, storming to victory with a remarkable 80-kilometre (50-mile) breakaway in the mountainous 19th stage that turned a deficit of more than three minutes into a 40-second lead.

‘It doesn’t get much worse’
 Tour organisers dropped their opposition to Froome racing mere hours after the Swiss-based UCI confirmed it had cleared Froome of doping suspicions. 
“These were severe allegations,” said Froome. “For an athlete it doesn’t get much worse,” he said.
“This was a nightmare scenario for any clean athlete. It was challenging to a level I’ve never experienced before.
“For any athlete, to go through something like this, it can define your career.
“If you’ve done something wrong, that stays with you forever. So it’s a huge weight off my shoulders.”
Froome said he has received endless calls, including from school friends from South Africa, telling him they knew the truth would come out in the end. He is expected to face a hostile reception from some Tour spectators.
 ‘Wires get a little bit crossed’
If Froome wins he will become only the third rider in history – along with Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault – to be the reigning champion in all three of cycling’s Grand Tours.
Frech icon Hinault, known as the “Badger”, told AFP prior to Froome’s being cleared that the peleton should go on strike if the British rider starts. 
However Froome said he would not give the five-time winner the cold shoulder. 
“I can’t say anything bad about Bernard,” he said.
“He’s one of the great champions.
“I imagine with age sometimes your wires get a little bit crossed, but if I see him I’ll very happily explain it all in a bit more detail... because he certainly got the wrong end of the stick.”
So driven is Froome that he said he will not leave the Tour even if his wife Michelle, who is eight months pregnant, goes into labour. The baby is due on August 1, just a few days after the Tour reaches its climax in Paris.
“I’ll hopefully be back in time but there are no guarantees,” he said.
“I’ve had teammates miss births to stay and support me in the Tour so if I was in that position I couldn’t let them down.
“Michelle understands that 100 per cent. It’s a huge sacrifice but that comes with the territory.”

Froome under no illusions as he seeks to make history
 Britain’s four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome says he is entering unknown territory as he bids to add a fifth win in the world’s greatest cycling race.
The 33-year-old Kenya-born rider – who if successful would join Belgian legend Eddie Merckx as the only cyclists to win four successive Tour de France – earned a late reprieve to line-up when he was cleared on Monday of an alleged doping offence emanating from last year’s Vuelta d’Espana, which he won.
Froome heads the Team Sky line-up announced on Tuesday with faithful lieutenant Geraint Thomas – perhaps in his final Tour with the team – among the seven teammates who will aid his challenge and add it to the Giro d’Italia crown he won in May. 
Froome is targetting a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title – joining Merckx, French duo Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil and Spaniard Miguel Indurain – as well as a fourth consecutive Grand Tour victory. “The last twelve months have been the hardest but also the most incredible of my career,” Froome said in a statement released by Team Sky. “I’ve never started the Tour de France after riding the Giro d’Italia and it has meant a completely different approach to my season.
“But I learnt a lot from riding the Vuelta straight after the Tour de France last year which has given me confidence coming into this race. 
“I want to make history with a fifth Tour de France win and fourth consecutive Grand Tour. I am under no illusion about the challenge, but I am feeling ready and I couldn’t ask for a better team to support me.” 
Dave Brailsford, the principal of Team Sky, said there would be no excuses if Froome comes up short as he is in peak shape and the team has been selected as the ideal one to adapt to the challenges of this year’s route. 
“We go into the Tour with a lot of confidence,” said Brailsford.
“Chris is in great shape after the Giro – mentally and physically – and the whole team want to build on the success we had in Italy.
“Chris is already one of the greats of the sport. This is a chance for him to cement that reputation even further.”
Brailsford, who prior to Froome’s Vuelta controversy had to weather a storm over star rider Bradley Wiggins and the use of therapeutic use exemption (TUEs)forms, said he expected the two debutants in the team, 21-year-old Colombian Egan Bernal and Italian Gianni Moscon, 24, to shine. 
“It is a team of real versatility and one that balances youth with experience,” he said. “They (Bernal and Moscon) are both very talented bike riders and will have a lot to offer.
“It is also fantastic that Luke Rowe will be riding the Tour again as our road captain after his serious accident last summer (he suffered a double fracture of the leg last August when he went white water rafting at his brother’s stag weekend in Prague).
“It is testament to his ability and determination that he has come back so strongly.”
Team: Chris Froome (GBR), Egan Bernal (COL), Jonathan Castroviejo (ESP), Michal Kwiatkowski (POL), Gianni Moscon (ITA), Wout Poels (NED), Luke Rowe (GBR), Geraint Thomas (GBR).