Former Tour de France champion Chris Froome (Israel–Premier Tech) has said his only source of information regarding the International Testing Association (ITA) enquiry into Team Sky and Team Ineos Grenadiers soigneur David Rozman has been via media reports.
Speaking publicly about the case for the first time at a race since news broke about the enquiry, when asked for his thoughts about it, Froome told journalists before the Tour de Pologne, "I've only seen what's been in the media, I only know as much as you guys."
At the beginning of the Tour de France, Rozman was linked to convicted doping doctor Mark Schmidt through texts from 2012 that were revealed in a 2020 court case surrounding the Operation Aderlass drugs probe.
The Slovenian soigneur, who has been with Team Sky and then Team Ineos Grenadiers since 2011, was then called to attend a fresh interview with the International Testing Association (ITA), and left the Tour mid-race.
Team Ineos Grenadiers said in a statement at the time they had received "no evidence from any relevant authority", and the court case texts remain the only thing linking Rozman to the Aderlass case at present.
Froome joined Team Sky in 2010, with his run of Grand Tour victories beginning at the 2011 Vuelta a España and continuing through four Tour de France races from 2013 to 2017. His last Grand Tour win was the Giro d'Italia in 2018.
In his fleeting encounter with journalists at the foot of the sign-on podium before stage 1 of the Tour de Pologne in Wrocław, Froome also denied reports that he had removed any images of himself with David Rozman from his social accounts after the story broke.
"That's not true. Go on my social media. Go on my social media, they're all there," he insisted.
Froome confirmed he had not spoken to Rozman since the case emerged, and then ended the interview with a perfunctory 'Cheers, guys' before riding away.
Before being asked about Rozman, Froome also answered questions from Polish television regarding his participation in Pologne, a race in which he last took part in 2011, shortly before winning the Vuelta a España, his first ever Grand Tour.
This year, Froome most recently took part in the Sibiu Tour, where he played a key role in helping Matthew Riccitello (Israel–Premier Tech) to victory in the five-day race, and he says he hopes to play a similar role for his teammates in the week-long Tour of Pologne.
"It's an important race, it's been almost 15 years since I was last here, but I'm looking forward to this week," Froome told Polish TV.
"This is potentially my last season racing, so my motivation is high and I want to try and do the best I can this week.
"We've got some good opportunities both with sprinters and guys for the breakaways with my teammates.
"So I'm here very much in a supportive role to help them, guide them and use my experience to read the race."
