Homegrown Gravel Adventure, Franklin GA - February 22nd 2025
United States | Southeast | California >> Bernard Hinault: TUEs should be banned

Bernard Hinault: Therapeutic Use Exemptions should be banned from Professional Cycling

"If you need a TUE, then you shouldn't be racing ..."

Five-times Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault believes that Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE's) should be banned from professional cycling.

The Frenchman said this in an interview with Ouest France, responding to contraversey of the Adverse Analytical Finding in a urine sample of Chris Froome during the recent Vuelta a España.

"I trusted him," Hinault said. "But this shows that you can't trust anyone. This case will once again cast a dark shadow over the sport. Maybe his career is even finished now."

The finding, which showed Salbutamol values twice as high as permitted, is the latest addition to a list of controversies on the use of TUE's, a topic in which Team Sky has often been the center of attention.

Hinault believes that these TUE's may not have a place in cycling at all. "It almost looks like they are all suffering from asthma!"

"I believe that if you need such substances or excemptions to be able to race, you shouldn't be riding at all."

Five-times Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault believes that Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE's) should be banned from professional cycling.