Giro d'Italia race director Mauro Vegni has asked the UCI to ensure that Chris Froome only be allowed to start the 2018 race if they can guarantee his race result will be valid in light of his adverse analytical finding for salbutamol at the 2017 Vuelta a Espana.
Talking at today's presentation of the Strade Bianche, Vegni stressed the importance that the Giro and RCS, the race organiser, are not left damaged by the situation, stating he will not accept a situation like that of Alberto Contador in 2011.
Contador won the Giro in 2011, but the Spaniard was later stripped of his title when he was handed a retrospective two-year ban for testing positive for Clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour de France.
Speaking to ANSA, Vegni commented, 'On the case of Froome, we will await the next steps of the UCI, especially on the request presented by Team Sky.
'We want a certification from the UCI that allows the rider to be at the start of the next Giro d'Italia, and they will have to tell us whether the rider is suspended, or he can race regularly, and we certainly do not accept a [repeat of the] Contador case.'
Vegni's comments align with reports in Gazzetta dello Sport that suggest the Legal Anti-Doping Services (LADS) has already sent Froome's salbutamol case to the UCI anti-doping tribunal.
The article suggested that with the case going directly to a tribunal, Froome is risking a two-year ban.
Earlier this week Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera suggested that on the advice of his wife Michelle, Froome was considering accepting a six month 'Acceptance of Negligence' sanction. The Team Sky rider later denied these reports on his Twitter page.
Froome and the Giro will have until Friday 4th May to resolve this issue before the race starts in Jerusalem, Israel.