London: Sir Bradley Wiggins has called the Chris Froome salbutamol affair “a mess” and says Wada needs more funding if it is truly to combat doping in sport.

The UCI, cycling’s world governing body, abruptly dropped its nine-month investigation into a presumed Adverse Analytical Finding that Froome returned at last year’s Vuelta for the asthma drug salbutamol.

Froome insisted he had not taken more than the allowed dosage, despite returning an elevated reading. And Wada, the world anti-doping agency, has now conceded there is enough variability in the salbutamol excretion of individual athletes to concede that Froome has no case to answer.

The UCI’s decision led to huge controversy, with some feeling that Froome had escaped justice.

Wiggins argued that was a red herring. “He has the financial resource,” the 2012 champion said on The Bradley Wiggins Show, a podcast for Eurosport. “There was criticism of this, but if he believes he’s innocent, he’s going to throw everything he can at it to clear his name. He has every right.

“We have to respect that he’s allowed to race, and within a safe environment. He’s getting all kinds of abuse at the moment and no athlete should have to ride under that and have their safety [placed in doubt] at the sport’s biggest event.”

Wiggins has himself been the subject of controversy after it was leaked that he took therapeutic use exemptions for the corticosteroid kenacort before some of the biggest races of his career. “Without the leak we wouldn’t even know about it, but that’s the nature of sport now. Had it not been Froome there wouldn’t have been a leak. But he’s in the race now and he’s in a chance to win his fifth Tour.

“Earlier in the year I thought it might affect him, but he’s managed to remain dignified and rise above it, with a historic Giro and for me is still a favourite to win the Tour de France. He’s proved he can deal with whatever’s thrown at him.”

Wiggins wonders if Wada might have made the decision earlier — there are suggestions they commissioned a report into salbutamol excretion last year which made it clear the test was flawed — and thus avoided a huge “mess”.

“All of a sudden we heard it within a day and he could race the next day. Could this decision have been made earlier? It’s just a mess. Did they already know the test was flawed? Apparently they may have already known that months ago. Something needs reviewing. I don’t think Wada have a massive amount of money, they need more investment.’’

— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2018