HEAT BACK ON SKY AS DRUG STORM TAKES NEW TWIST

THE storm engulfing Team Sky and British Cycling erupted again last night. It has emerged that the medical supplier who sent a batch of a banned substance to British Cycling’s headquarters has refused to co-operate with UK Anti-Doping or the governing body’s own investigation.

Sportsmail can reveal that the company which sent testosterone patches to the National Cycling Centre in Manchester in 2011 was Oldham-based Fit 4 Sport Ltd. On their website, the firm lists the English FA and high-profile English Premier League clubs among their clients. Team Sky’s then medical director Dr Steve Peters claimed in March the highly controversial package was ‘sent in error’, but neither the company nor the former team doctor have provided evidence to prove that. In 2011, orders for medical supplies for Team Sky and British Cycling were made by Dr Richard Freeman, who resigned as British Cycling team doctor last month. British Cycling tried to investigate how a banned substance with a history of abuse in the sport arrived on their premises. In March, Peters told TheSundayTimes that, in 2011, Freeman requested written confirmation from the firm that it was sent in error, which he had then shown to Peters. It is claimed it came in the form of an email. But when British Cycling requested a proper paper trail, with delivery notes, the company refused to respond.

Sportsmail understands UKAD investigators were also met by a refusal to co-operate. British Cycling said they will terminate their relationship with Fit 4 Sport. Julie Harrington, new chief executive of British Cycling, said: ‘As part of our own internal investigation, we invited Dr Freeman and our national medical supplier, Fit 4 Sport, to contribute and we didn’t get any co-operation. We will be reviewing our supply partner.’ After TheSundayTimes revealed in March the testosterone delivery had been found by UKAD investigators at around the same time they found evidence of a big order for triamcinolone — the banned corticosteroid at the centre of the Sir Bradley Wiggins medical exemption controversy — Peters said: ‘Dr Freeman said the order had not been placed and so must have been sent in error. I asked Dr Freeman to return it to the supplier, and to (request) written confirmation it was sent in error. The confirmation arrived. I was satisfied this was an administrative error and it wasn’t necessary to (inform) Dave Brailsford (then performance director of British Cycling).’ It is believed UKAD and the General Medical Council are still looking at the testosterone patches delivery as part of ongoing investigations.