Arensman gives Ineos something to cheer about as doping cloud hangs

BAGNERES-DE-LUCHON, France :Thymen Arensman gave his Ineos-Grenadiers team something to cheer about as he won the 14th stage of the Tour de France after a superb solo ride in the 182.6-km (113-mile) mountain trek between Pau and Superbagneres on Saturday.

Slovenian Tadej Pogacar retained the overall leader's yellow jersey as he took second place by beating chief rival Jonas Vingegaard in a two-man sprint finish, one minute 12 seconds behind Arensman, the first rider from the British outfit to win on the Tour in two years.

Ineos Grenadiers have been facing questions about one of their team carers, who is at the centre of allegations involving alleged message exchanges in 2012 with a doctor connected to the notorious Operation Aderlass doping scandal, which rocked the sporting world in 2019.

Bradley Wiggins won the Tour in 2012 with the team, which was then known as Team Sky before Chris Froome went on to win another four for the squad.

Although no formal charges have been brought, the development has cast a shadow over the team’s Tour campaign, with the carer nowhere to be seen in recent days.

"Ineos Grenadiers Cycling Team is aware of recent media allegations relating to the 2012 season and a member of its staff. These allegations have not to date been presented to the team by any appropriate authority," the team said in a statement.

The team added that it had formally requested information from the International Testing Agency (ITA) and reaffirmed its zero-tolerance policy regarding doping violations.

The ITA told Reuters it would not further comment on the matter.

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Operation Aderlass, which began with a raid during the 2019 Nordic World Ski Championships in Austria, implicated athletes and medical personnel across several