Backspin: Froome cleared, Bruyneel targeted, Norwegian races merge and more …

While Peter Sagan, Michael Matthews, Fernando Gaviria and Marcel Kittel battle it out for the green points jersey and Rafal Majka and Warren Barguil each attempt lay claim as ‘King of the Mountain’ at the 105th edition of Le Tour de France, all eyes will be focused on defending champion Chris Froome.

However the road to his record-tying fifth Tour title has been anything but smooth for the 33-year-old Kenyan-born British rider for Team Sky.

“It has been like your worst nightmare,” Froome told The Times after being cleared of any wrongdoing following an adverse drug test showing double the permitted level of asthma medication salbutamol at last year’s Vuelta a España — a race in which he won en-route to completing the Grand Tour hat trick.

The clearance came as the four-time Tour de France winner was on the verge of being denied a start at the Tour on Saturday.

Despite team owners previously trying to block Froome as well, the 33-year-old Kenyan-born Brit is now set to write his name in the history books alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as other five-times Tour winners.

"The last twelve months have been the hardest but also the most incredible of my career. I’ve never started the Tour de France after riding the Giro d’Italia and it has meant a completely different approach to my season," said Froome.

Riding into cycling lore will be no easy task for the recently crowned Giro d’Italia winner as he will have to contend with four other Grand Tour winners, Nibali, Nairo Quintana, Tom Dumoulin and Alejandro Valverde

But it is a challenge Team Sky chief Dave Brailsford says both Froome and the team are ready to take on board.

"Chris is in great shape after the Giro — mentally and physically — and the whole team want to build on the success we had in Italy,” said Brailsford. “Chris is already one of the greats of the sport. This is a chance for him to cement that reputation even further.

“We have chosen the Team to support him that we believe is best equipped to meet the demands of this year’s race,” he said of Sky’s Tour roster of Egan Bernal, Jonathan Castroviejo, Michal Kwiatkowski, Gianni Moscon, Wout Poels, Luke Rowe and Geraint Thomas.

“These are very special weeks every year. We love riding in France and we are all looking forward to starting racing.”

The US government is seeking $1.2 million from Johan Bruyneel, who managed the US Postal Service team under Tailwind Sports during Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories.

Those Tour victories were eventually stripped following the United States Anti-Doping Agency's reasoned decision document published at the end of 2012 and Armstrong’s confession in January 2013.

According to court papers filed by US Justice attorney’s on Monday, Bruyneel received nearly $2 million in salary and bonuses during the duration of its sponsorship, and the USA Today reported that the filing claims that US Postal Service “paid 60 percent of Tailwind’s expenses” including the payments to Bruyneel. Accordingly, Bruyneel was unjustly enriched by his fraud and is liable to the United States for the payments it made to him through Tailwind, or $1,228,700.

The United States Postal Service, which is an independent agency of the US federal government, sponsored Armstrong's and Bruyneel's team to the tune of $32.3 million during six of Armstrong's seven Tour titles between 1999 and 2004, while Discovery Channel took over title sponsorship in 2005.

The US Justice Department originally sought $100 million against Armstrong, Bruyneel and Tailwind Sports, but settled the doping fraud case with Armstrong for $5 million in April after five years in court.

Velon announced on Thursday that the 2019 Hammer Stavanger will precede the all-new combined six-day race, which merges the Tour des Fjords and the Tour of Norway.

The Tour des Fords, formerly known as the Rogaland Grand Prix, just wrapped it’s sixth edition in May with winner Michael Albasini (Mitchelton-Scott), while the Tour of Norway, which originated as the Fossen Grand Prix in 1975, later becoming the Ringerike GP, crowned race winner, Eduard Prades (Euskadi-Murias), two days prior to Fjords.

The merger creates a nine-day Norwegian cycling festival, one that both Norway and Fjords CEOs herald as a logical next step.

"This is a major step towards making a bigger and stronger event,” said Tour of Norway founder and Interspons AS CEO Birger Hungerholdt. “We look forward to developing the concept and helping cycling in Norway to grow,” said Tour of Norway founder and Interspons AS CEO Birger Hungerholdt.

Tour des Fjords AS CEO Roy Hegreberg agrees.

“Norway has grown into a powerful cycling nation with world-class riders like Thor Hushovd, Alexander Kristoff and Edvald Boasson Hagen,” he stated in the Velon announcement. “We have established two strong races, Tour des Fjords and Tour of Norway, with Hammer Stavanger added in 2018.

"Our deal with Velon secures a strong line-up for the coming years and we want to build a longer and better stage race. We are delighted to join forces with Tour of Norway and together with their expertise I am confident we can build a bigger and better race for riders, sponsors and fans,” Hegreberg continued. “The riders will compete over nine days in the beautiful diversity of our Norwegian landscape, from fjords to mountains, from beaches to cities, west to east and south to north.”

The Tour des Fjords established Hammer Stavanger in 2018 in partnership with Velon Ltd and Infront Sport & Media AG, and also partnered with Velon at the 6th edition of the Tour des Fjords in May, which will be the new owner of the stage race as Interspons AS will serve as a partner.

The second edition of Hammer Stavanger is scheduled for May 24-26 of next year, two days before the new six-day stage race (May 28-June 2). The name of race has yet to be announced.

"I have good memories from the Tour des Fjords and Tour of Norway,” said two-time Norwegian road race champion and reigning European champ Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates). “By joining the best resources in Norwegian cycling, I'm sure we'll have an even better race over coming years.”

An unexpected social media post from Vuelo Velo bike brand owner Martin ‘Marty’ Renwick in June called for riders to appear in a promotional video for a soon-to-be announced cycling event entitled the ‘Chase Sydney Classic’ which is scheduled for January 2019.

According to the event founder and principle director’s post, the Chase Sydney has undergone 17 months of negotiations to acquire a licence agreement with the city’s Centennial Park authority, which will give the Sydney it’s first elite bike race since it hosted the 2000 Olympic Games.

While no official announcement has been released, the rumoured event, which will host a myriad of races, including elite men’s and women’s races in and around the city, has targeted the first Tuesday (January 22) following the Tour Down Under in Adelaide (January 10-20), which serves as the UCI WorldTour season opener.

With the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race the following weekend (January 24-27), Chase Sydney hopes to attract many of the WorldTour teams already in Australia for the other two established UCI races.

“I am certainly aware of the new race that is being proposed for Sydney in 2019,” Mitchelton-Scott sports director Matt White told Eurosport. “I am a very proud New South Welshman and Sydney boy and our city has been starved of international races for too long.

“I know Marty Renwick since I started in cycling and I have been helping him with advice regarding how best to look after the athletes and teams,” he concluded. “Something which is very easy for me being it’s my 9-5 for the last decade or two.”