Chris Froome has 'no issues' after Russian group Fancy Bears leak his confidential medical records

Three-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome says he has no qualms about his confidential medical records having been leaked in the World Anti-Doping Agency hack.

Fancy Bears, thought to be a Russian cyber-espionage group, overnight released the names of further athletes and their private records of therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs).

Five Britons were among them, of whom Froome and Sir Bradley Wiggins were the most high-profile. The others were golfer Charley Hull, the women’s rugby sevens player Heather Fisher and Team GB rower Sam Townsend.

Froome was not worried by the leak, saying: “I’ve openly discussed my TUEs with the media and have no issues with the leak which only confirms my statements. In nine years as a professional I’ve twice required a TUE for exacerbated asthma. The last time was in 2014.”

Froome’s comments were echoed by that of his employers, Team Sky, who said its TUEs “have all been managed and recorded in line with the processes put in place by the governing bodies”.

Froome had been granted permission by cycling’s governing body, the UCI, to take the banned steroid prednisolone in 2013 and again the following year because he was suffering from a chill.

There is no suggestion Froome or the rest of the British quintet have done anything wrong as TUEs are granted to allow an athlete to take a banned substance if medically required.

Wiggins’s hacked data showed he took three banned substances — salbutamol, formoterol and triamcinolone acetone — between 2008 and 2013, including at the 2011 Tour de France.

The five-time Olympic champion has yet to make a statement on the matter but British Cycling reacted angrily to his and Froome’s data having been leaked.

The organisation said: “We’re proud of our strong anti-doping culture at British Cycling. As the national governing body for the sport in Britain and a supporter of the WADA code, we condemn the publication of any individual’s medical information without their permission.”

It was a stance backed by the UCI, which said it backed the earlier WADA “condemnations of cyber attacks to release personal data”, and that it believed WADA would halt any further security breaches.