Sir Bradley Wiggins says he ‘100% did not cheat’ after damning MPs’ report

SIR Bradley Wiggins says he “100%” did not cheat and claims he is the victim of an attempt to “smear” him.

A report by MPs said Wiggins and Team Sky “crossed an ethical line” by using drugs that are allowed under anti-doping rules to enhance performance instead of just for medical purposes.

“Not at any time in my career did we cross the ethical line,” Wiggins told BBC sports editor Dan Roan.

“I refute that 100%. This is malicious, this is someone trying to smear me.” Five-time Olympic champion Wiggins, the first Briton to win the Tour de France, said he is the subject of a “witch hunt”, that his children “get a hammering at school” which is “disgusting to witness”, and that it is “a living hell”.

He added: “[Cycling] is the most scrutinised sport in the world. I can’t control what people are going to think but for some people, whatever you do it is not going to be enough. I just don’t know any more in this sport - you are damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

“The widespread effect it has had on the family is just horrific. I am having to pick up the pieces with the kids - I would not wish it on anyone.”

Wiggins, 37, was granted therapeutic use exemption (TUEs) to take the corticosteroid triamcinolone, which can treat allergies and respiratory issues, shortly before the 2011 Tour de France, his 2012 Tour win and the 2013 Giro d’Italia.

When asked if it was convenient timing before these three major races, Wiggins replied that it was because of the “type of grass pollen I am allergic too”.

He added: “The grass pollen goes in seasons, and this particular strain of grass pollen I was allergic to, it was at a heightened period during June and July.

“I answered these questions before: ‘Why didn’t you take it in 2016?’ Because I was racing indoors, I didn’t have these problems. These problems flared up riding through fields and we are riding for three weeks at a time through France, it was the biggest race of the year. I had won everything that season, I wasn’t going to jeopardise the work we had put in at that stage.”-BBC