Chris Froome's build-up to the defence of his Tour de France title suffered a major setback yesterday with the 2013 Tour winner cracking and sliding out of the top 10 as he attempted to repeat his victory of 2013 in the Criterium du Dauphine Libere, while a statement from the governing body, the UCI, helped rebut the implication in the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche that his request for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for a corticosteroid earlier this season might have received preferential treatment.

A Team Sky spokesman confirmed that Froome had been “suffering from a chest infection exacerbating his underlying asthma” and had been prescribed prednisolone tablets at 40mg per day by the team doctor during the Tour de Romandie.

Froome, who is asthmatic and uses an inhaler occasionally during races, had been forced to pull out of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic on April 27th at less than 24 hours notice, due to a chest infection; the TUE was issued on April 29th, the day the Tour de Romandie started.

Prednisolone is a corticosteroid which is widely used to treat a variety of inflammatory conditions including arthritis and asthma, with a starting dose if taken in tablet form of between 5 and 60mg per day.

In common with other corticosteroids it is on the Wada banned list when taken orally or by injection but its use in competition is permitted if a Therapeutic Use Exemption is applied for.

“In accordance with Wada guidelines the medical team made an application for the use of [prednisolone] through the correct, regulated TUE system. This was granted by the UCI,” said the team. “After the original assessment and decision he was monitored regularly and seen each day by the team doctor to look at his condition and continued racing.”

“Dr Zorzoli, the UCI doctor, told us what we could and couldn’t do, we’ve always stayed within the rules, so we’ve got nothing to hide,” said the team’s head, Dave Brailsford.

The newspaper stated that Wada was looking into the issue but, when contacted, the Wada director general, David Howman, said he had no knowledge of this.

A UCI statement said that “nothing out of the ordinary occurred in the case of Chris Froome”. The UCI confirmed that: “Froome’s TUE for oral use of glucocorticosteroids was granted on 29 April, 2014 based on duly documented medical history and in compliance with the applicable UCI Regulations and the relevant Wada guidelines. The TUE was granted for a limited period, following the usual procedure.”

The UCI added: “The process was fully transparent as it is UCI’s policy to systematically record all TUEs on ADAMS [a system monitoring the whereabouts of an athlete]. Wada was therefore informed throughout the process.”

It rejected the implication that Froome’s application might have received preferential treatment. “The UCI wishes to emphasise that under the applicable rules – which are consistent with the Wada Code and the Wada TUE standard and guidelines – any rider with the same symptoms as Christopher Froome would have received a similar TUE.”

This is not the first time that Sky have been recorded as having applied for a TUE at short notice; a feature in the magazine Cycle Sport in 2011 noted that their team doctor, Richard Freeman, had to put in a call to Zorzoli to obtain permission for their then rider Rigoberto Uran to use a corticosteroid for a breathing-related problem. – Guardian service