ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now to cycling and Chris Froome will become the first British cyclist to win a second Tour de France title today as the race comes to an end on the Champs Elysees, barring any terrible accident.  I am joined now from Paris by the President of the World Cycling body, the UCI, Brian Cookson.  A very good morning to you, Mr Cookson, exciting times and we are about to, as I say barring anything completely unexpected, to see crowning of a truly great world champion in sport, not just cycling.  

BRIAN COOKSON: Well good morning Dermot, yes, I think we have seen an incredibly exciting last three weeks of the Tour de France, we have seen some major obstacles, major difficulties for all of the competitors and at the top of all that Chris Froome has emerged as clearly the strongest rider in this year’s Tour de France, a wonderful performance by him, a great event and a wonderful part of the international sporting landscape.  

DM: Would you like to set on the record here that the UCI believe that him and his team are entirely clean?   

BRIAN COOKSON: Well look, I believe that cycling has got the best anti-doping processes of any sport anywhere in the world these days.  We run those processes independently and with integrity, we run them in partnership with the World Anti-Doping Agency and in the case of the Tour de France, with the national anti-doping agency here in France and I believe we are doing that in absolutely the most effective way so people can be confident that cycling has got the most effective anti-doping procedures.  It’s not my job to support any individual rider or any individual team, what I’m saying is that cycling as a sport has got the best possible procedures and we are running them with the best possible level of integrity and independence.  

DM: But you must have been horrified at some of the coverage in the French media of Chris Froome’s performance and some of those spectators, absolutely disgusting, spitting at him and throwing urine in his face.  

BRIAN COOKSON: Yes, absolutely, I think that’s totally unacceptable.  The Tour de France is a great free show and cycling is one of those sports, one of the few sports now that you can get right up close to the competitors and really have a great time, a great experience and really see what it takes to compete at the highest level in sport so if people are abusing that, well frankly I think the authorities, the police should take action against them.  I don't think it’s too difficult with today’s social media to identify people who are doing these disgusting acts and I think frankly everyone has a responsibility to try to make sure that that doesn’t happen again so if you are watching the Tour de France and you see someone behaving in an inappropriate way next to you, then go and talk to the nearest gendarme and put those people under the sort of pressure that they should be put.  That sort of behaviour is unacceptable and completely disgraceful.

DM: So given that mood amongst some sections of the spectators, what kind of reception do you think Chris Froome will get on the Champs Elysees?  

BRIAN COOKSON: Well do you know what, I think Chris will get a very good reception on the Champs Elysees.  The fact is that a small minority of people misbehave, sometimes under the influence of alcohol when they have been stood at the side of the road perhaps for many hours and I think those people probably won’t be present on the Champs Elysees.  The vast majority of people who watch the Tour de France do so in a sensible and rational sort of way, they behave themselves, they appreciate the wonderful athletic endeavours of the athletes that they are seeing in front of them and they respect them.  It is all about respect and we’ve all got a responsibility to behave respectfully, we’ve all got a responsibility to behave in a safe and secure way and so people should take those responsibilities very, very seriously and I am sure that the vast, vast majority of people are doing that.  

DM: Do you think that part of the reaction in France has been to the fact that it hasn’t exactly been, bar the individual performances of Chris Froome and his team, it hasn’t been a nip and tuck Tour de France, it hasn’t been exciting.  He took his yellow jersey very early on in the Tour and then the team tactics meant they controlled so many of the stages and have led almost from start to finish.  

BRIAN COOKSON: I think if anybody thinks this hasn’t been an exciting Tour de France they have been watching a different race from the one I’ve been watching.  I think we’ve seen the leader, yes he established himself very early in the race but he has been under threat virtually every day since then and there have been some attacks and counter attacks, I think we’ve seen an incredibly exciting race and the face that one rider has come out on top at the end of it is normal and there is always going to be somebody who wins obviously and I think we have seen a fantastic race this year with some great challenges to a very strong leader.  The race wasn’t over until really until the riders crossed the finish line yesterday at the top of Alp d’Huez so I think that is exactly what we want to see, I congratulate ASO the Tour organisers for the wonderful way in which they planned this Tour de France and I congratulate the vast majority of spectators who have behaved really well and professionally and done a great job in supporting this wonderful sport and spectacle of Tour de France.  

DM: And just this issue, Mr Cookson, of the innuendo, there was some suggestions that somehow Chris Froome had a mechanical motor or something inside his bike and then we see pictures of your organisation, the UCI, taking his bike apart.  Didn’t you rather fuel those rumours?

BRIAN COOKSON: Well no, we have to take those kind of things seriously.  We do know the technology is available, we have been intelligence gathering, we don’t just operate in a vacuum.  We have looked at the possibility of that kind of mechanical cheating, we believe it is possible and therefore we have a duty, a responsibility to make sure we check it out.  That’s what we’ve been doing, not just Chris Froome, we’ve checked bikes on several occasions throughout the Tour as we have throughout the rest of the cycling season and we will continue to do that as long as we believe there is a threat that people might be finding this new and potentially disastrous way of cheating but at the moment we haven’t found any, I hope we never do find any and we will keep testing.  

DM: Okay Mr Cookson, enjoy the grand finale.  Brian Cookson there, the President of the UCI.