Former Team Sky doctor given doping ban, the Tour de France and its probable UK return, and James Shaw on severe concussion

With a flurry of big name moves in the transfer market and 10 days remaining until a cast of the peloton's stars gather at the Vuelta a España, these are RadioCycling's latest headline stories...Following the announcement a four-year ban for former Team Sky and British Cycling doctor Richard Freeman for possession of a banned substance and lying to UK Anti-Doping investigators, we speak to Matt Lawton, chief sports correspondent of the Times, who has followed the case closely since 2016. We hear what impact this decision will have on Team Sky's legacy, whether Freeman is the "fall guy" in this affair, and if the identity of the rider for whom the batch of testosterone at the centre of this case was destined will ever be revealed.   One of the buzz phrases in Scotland at the World Championships was "Tour de France". Another was “When is it coming back?” The British government is behind a bid to host the Tour's Grand Départ for the third time, the money is in place to support this, and now leading actors on both sides of the bid are openly talking it. Is it a done deal? If it is, when might it happen? And could we have the answers to these questions on 25th October? A surprise debutant at the Tour de France, EF Education-EasyPost's James Shaw impressed hugely during the first half of the race, but had to abandon at the end of the second week after a heavy crash left him with severe concussion. The British rider tells us how the concussion protocols worked in his favour, about his return to fitness and reveals that two months on he's still affected by the impact he suffered that day.
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