| Cobo finished in first place at the 2011 Vuelta, with Bradley Wiggins (left) in third and Chris Froome (right) in second |
Eight years on, Chris Froome has been crowned winner of the 2011 Vuelta a Espana after Spain’s Juan Jose Cobo was stripped of the title following a doping violation.
The now retired Cobo was found to have “abnormalities” in his biological passport between 2009 and 2011, prompting the International Cycling Union (UCI) to hand him a three-year suspension last month.
The 38-year-old did not appeal the decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport within the stipulated period of 30 days, paving the way for the UCI to award Froome his seventh Grand Tour title.
The retrospective update made Froome Britain’s first Grand Tour winner, stripping that honour from compatriot Bradley Wiggins, who won the 2012 Tour de France.
Cobo’s disqualification moved Wiggins up to second in the 2011 Vuelta while Dutch rider Bauke Mollema completed the revised podium.
Team Ineos rider Froome is not competing in the ongoing Tour de France as the 34-year-old recovers from a horror crash at the Criterium du Dauphine on June 12 that left him with multiple fractures.
Froome’s Grand Tour trophy cabinet now includes four Tour de France titles (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017), two Vuelta crowns (2011, 2017) and the 2018 Giro d’Italia.
The 2011 Vuelta draws Froome level with the seven Grand Tour titles collected by Spaniards Alberto Contador and Miguel Indurain, and Italy’s Fausto Coppi.
Belgium’s Eddy Merckx leads the table with 11 ahead of Frenchmen Bernard Hinault (10) and Jacques Anquetil (8)
REUTERS