Chris Froome caught in 'horrible situation' following adverse drug test revelation

The four-time Tour de France winner was found to have double the permitted level of salbutamol in a urine test taken during the Vuelta a Espana

Chris Froome's reputation is on the line (Getty)

Chris Froome has said he is caught in “a horrible situation” following revelations the cyclist returned an adverse drugs test at the Vuelta a Espana in September.

The four-time Tour de France winner was found to have double the permitted level of salbutamol, a legal asthma drug, in a urine test taken during the event.

The result is not automatically classified as a positive test and the 32-year-old has not been suspended, but he must provide a satisfactory explanation for the adverse findings or he faces a ban and the loss of his Vuelta title.

Appearing on the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday night, Froome once again denied any wrongdoing but said he “understood people’s concerns”.

"I do completely get it - I have been a bike rider for 10 years now and I know how some people might look at our sport,” he said in reference to the repeated doping scandals which have plagued cycling in recent years.

"That is a responsibility I take very seriously and we are working as hard as we can to try and get to the bottom of it.

"I am an asthmatic, I have been since I was a child, and I use a puffer to help manage it but I have never taken more than I am allowed, so it is quite a horrible situation."

This follows the insistence of former UCI president Pat McQuaid that Froome's adverse drugs test is "a disaster" for cycling.

McQuaid also claimed Team Sky could lose all credibility as a result.

Chris Froome is facing a potential anti-doping violation (Getty)

"I don't see how Chris Froome can turn around like he did and say 'I played by the rules, I broke no rules'," he said.

"The fact is, he has broken a rule. The fact is his urine sample was twice the permitted limit. It's up to him to go and prove that he could have done otherwise.

"We're now three months down the road, and they haven't found a solution or a resolution to it yet."