Chris Froome has denied reports he is ready to accept a ban ©Getty Images

Chris Froome has denied reports that he is ready to accept a ban after his failed drugs test at last year's Vuelta a España.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) announced last month that the British rider had failed for asthma medication salbutamol at the Spanish Grand Tour, which he won after clinching a fourth Tour de France title earlier in the season.

He was found to have had twice the permitted 1,000 nanograms per millilitre concentration in his sample but has denied any wrongdoing and has not been suspended.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has today reported that Froome is ready to accept a six-month ban, saying "he has understood he has lost the war and is ready to sign an honourable armistice".

The Team Sky rider denied the story, which suggested an "acceptance of consequences" deal, on Twitter.

"I have seen the report in Corriere della Sera this morning - it's completely untrue," he said.

Froome has appointed London-based lawyer Mike Morgan to fight his case.

Chris Froome won the Vuelta last year before his failed test was announced ©Getty Images
Chris Froome won the Vuelta last year before his failed test was announced ©Getty Images

His company Morgan Sports Law successfully defended British cyclist Lizzie Armistead when she avoided a four-year ban in 2016 following three missed drugs tests within a 12-month period.

Other recent clients include Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova, French footballer Mamadou Sakho, Spanish and South African cyclists Sergio Henao and Daryl Impey, Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown and Croatian tennis player Marin Čilić.

Salbutamol can be taken without the need for a Therapeutic Use Exemption - in which an athlete receives medical permission to take an otherwise banned substance - so long as the legal limit is not exceeded.

Froome has claimed that he upped his dosage on the advice of his team doctor after his asthma got worse mid-race.

He would be in line to lose his Vuelta title if found guilty of an offence.

The decision not to suspend Froome has caused controversy.

UCI President David Lappartient said Team Sky should suspend the rider to Le Telegramme this month, although the organisation has not acted itself.

Tony Martin, the German and Team Katusha-Alpecin time trial expert who finished second to Froome's third at the London 2012 Olympics, is among cyclists to have criticised the handling of the case.

"I am totally angry," he wrote on his personal Facebook account last month.

"There is definitely a double standard being applied in the Christopher Froome case.

"Other athletes are suspended immediately after a positive test."