Chris Froome: IAAF must copy cycling in fight against doping

IAAF needs to 'invest' says Tour de France champion

Tour de France winner Chris Froome, centre, celebrates alongside second placed Nairo Quintana, left, of Colombia and third placed Alejandro Valverde, right, of Spain (Getty)

Tour de France champion Chris Froome believes athletics must follow cycling’s example and find the money to fight doping in the sport.

The International Association of Athletics Federations has been under fire since the leak of a database of 12,000 blood tests, involving 5,000 athletes, suggested doping has been widespread.

The IAAF spends £1.3m annually on anti-doping while cycling’s budget is nearer £6m. Cycling’s governing body, the UCI, provides part of those funds with the rest coming from the top teams.

Froome, fresh from his second Tour win last month, said athletics needed to change to stay ahead of the dopers. “From what I understand, the testing hasn’t been at the level that it is in cycling,” he told BBC Sport. “It is going to have to invest a lot more heavily in anti-doping. That would be a step in the right direction.”

Froome underlined how cycling has cleaned up its act in recent years. “I believe some things have changed quite substantially since the dark ages of 10 to 15 years ago, when the sport was really dirty,” he said. “The testing has really evolved and the UCI has now implemented 24-hour testing. I have every confidence that the system now really works.” In contrast, an investigation by The Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD appeared to show that athletics was struggling in its battle to rid the sport of doping.

Lord Coe, who is bidding to be elected IAAF president, told CNN yesterday: “We’ve chased some of the biggest names out of the sport and that doesn’t come without a cost. The reputational damage to a sport for actually weeding out the cheats is quite profound, but we’ve still been prepared to do it.”