Let's look at the facts surrounding Froome taking into consideration his own comments after one of the Vuelta Espana stages and also when he spoke to the press last week after his positive test was revealed.
The maximum permitted dose of Salbutamol is 1600micrograms in 24 hours. The UCI are in agreement here with the manufacturers (Ventolin) recommendations, but not for their inhaler. We'll get back to that.
The maximum amount of Salbutamol (Ventolin) allowed in the urine is 1000units. Basically if you have to take the maximum dose of Ventolin I.e. 1600mcgs, your urine levels should be well within 1000units.
Here's the thing. Each puff of a Ventolin inhaler dispenses 100mcg. To exceed the 1600mcg threshold Froome would have to have had in excess of 16 puffs. In the manufacturers guidelines they recommend no more than 2 puffs. But that doesn't tell the whole story because Froome had 2000units in his urine which would have meant him having in excess of 32 puffs of his inhaler!
Froome lost time to Nibali one day. He said he was feeling well when asked by journalists after that stage. The next day he took time out of Nibali. That was the day he returned the positive result. Froome told us last week when his positive test came through that he'd been feeling unwell so had a few extra puffs on his inhaler.
This is the crux for me. A few extra puffs is 300mcg. So where did all the extra drug come from? A 2000units in his urine equates to a consumption of over 3200mcgs of Ventolin.
He's given himself and the game up just on his own comments. The facts don't correspond to his remarks last week. Salbutamol is a potent performance enhancing drug when used in isolation or in conjunction with corticosteroids. Sports doctors know this and so do athletes which is why they take it.
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