WIGGINS DRUGS PROBE
UK doping chiefs are investigating Olympic hero AND Team Sky
SIR BRADLEY WIGGINS and Team Sky are being investigated by UK AntiDoping because of a medical package that was delivered to Sky officials ahead of the 2011 Tour de France.
They are expected to question Wiggins, Sir Dave Brailsford and the Sky medical team as part of a wide-ranging probe into an ‘allegation of wrongdoing’.
Specifically, they will seek answers about a package that was flown to Geneva and then driven to a Team Sky medical official.
Wiggins — who, like Team Sky, denies any wrongdoing — has been under fire since Russian hackers revealed that the first Briton to win the Tour had applied for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) to use a powerful steroid before his last three major road races. The
first was dated June 29, 2011, with the second just days before the 2012 Tour he went on to win. But responding to questions from Sportsmail, officials at British Cycling confirmed last night that a member of their coaching staff had, indeed, travelled to La Toussuire in France with medication requested by Team Sky on June 12, 2011. On that day, Wiggins celebrated winning the seven-stage Dauphine Libere road race. While British Cycling have confirmed it was medication for a Team Sky rider, they have not identified the substance nor the rider, citing patient-doctor confidentiality. They have, however, suggested the package did not contain triamcinolone, the drug at the centre of the Wiggins TUE controversy. They have been unable to confirm if they have a record of what the medication was instead. At the time Simon Cope, a former rider and now boss of Wiggins’ own racing team, was a women’s cycling coach at British Cycling. But at the request of Team Sky he flew to Geneva that day with the medication before hiring a car and completing the final two hours of his journey to La Toussuire. Having delivered the package, he returned immediately to the UK. Sportsmail understands doping chiefs are investigating allegations centred around the package and whether it was requested by Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman for Wiggins. In a statement issued last night, they confirmed: ‘UKAD is investigating an allegation of wrongdoing in cycling. In order to protect the integrity of the investigation we will not comment further.’ Wiggins, Team Sky and Dr Freeman’s employers at British Cycling have been asked by Sportsmail about the package and whether the five-time Olympic champion had a private session with Freeman at the back of the Team Sky bus after the final stage of the Dauphine Libere on June 12, 2011. All three parties refused to respond to the questions last night, although in an email last month Wiggins denied he had an injection that would have required a TUE after the race that day. Team Sky principal Brailsford said that a meeting between Dr Freeman and Wiggins could not have taken place on the team bus on June 12 because it had left with other riders before their team leader had completed his podium, media and drug-test commitments. However, Sportsmail sought further explanation after a video emerged showing Wiggins outside the bus after the race. An alternative reason was also initially given for Cope’s trip. It was said that he had travelled to the French ski resort to see Emma Pooley, even though the Olympic silver medallist was almost 700 miles away racing in Spain. Pooley has confirmed she did not meet Cope in France. In the wake of the leaked Wiggins TUE documents that were published by the Russian hackers, the Fancy Bears, a number of wellknown figures in cycling have questioned Wiggins’s use of triamcinolone before the 2011 and 2012 Tours and the 2013 Giro d’Italia. Wiggins has denied any wrongdoing, insisting he needed a drug banned in competition to combat asthma and allergy issues.