Anti-doping chief: Come clean about Bradley Wiggins mystery package
BRITAIN’S most senior antidoping official has spoken for the first time about the controversy surrounding a delivery of drugs to champion cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins.
David Kenworthy, chairman of UK Anti Doping (UKAD), broke his silence yesterday to criticise British cycling bosses – including Team Sky chief Sir David Brailsford – for their lack of transparency amid the ongoing row.
MPs and UKAD have been investigating why a package said to contain a commonly available decongestant was couriered 900 miles to Wiggins on the final day of the Criterium du Dauphine race in southern France in June 2011.
Mr Kenworthy described recent testimony to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee by senior British cycling figures including Sir David as ‘extraordinary’ and ‘very disappointing’ and demanded they come clean about what was actually in the package. Brailsford told MPs the Jiffy bag contained the permitted decongestant Fluimucil – even though it can be bought over the counter for just €8 in France.
Yesterday, Mr Kenworthy told the BBC: ‘There’s still no definite answer from anyone who was involved. People could remember a package that was delivered to France, they can remember who asked for it, they can remember the route it took, who delivered it, the times it arrived. The select committee has got expense sheets and travel documents. So everybody can remember this from five years ago, but no one can remember what was in the package. That strikes me as being extraordinary. It is very disappointing.’
When asked about Brailsford’s Fluimucil explanation, Kenworthy said: ‘Well that’s what Dave Brailsford came out with at the hearing. But actually, if you recall, he didn’t say, “I know that’s what it was.” He said, “I have been told that’s what it was.”’
Committee chairman Damian Collins MP said there was ‘no paper trail’ to back up the claim of Team Sky’s doctor Richard Freeman that the package contained Fluimucil.
Mr Collins added: ‘The whole story doesn’t look good and… has changed when it’s been challenged at various times and therefore that undermines any confidence we might have.
‘The one man who should know is Dr Freeman.’
Mr Collins urged Dr Freeman to make the medical records available to UKAD if they exist.