MPs demand answers from cycling chiefs
EXCLUSIVE
SENIOR figures in British Cycling will be called to appear before a parliamentary select committee to respond to the escalating crisis in the sport.
Damian Collins MP, the newly elected chair of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport committee, will invite officials and possibly even athletes to attend after a storm erupted over Sir Bradley Wiggins and his use of exemption certificates to take banned drugs and Sportsmail’s revelations about a mystery medical package delivered to Team Sky.
Collins, who confirmed yesterday that the select committee had contacted British Cycling with a view to holding a hearing next month, said it would be part of their ongoing ‘inquiry into doping’ in sport. He said: ‘The select committee wants to look at the ethics of the use of TUEs and the way this is policed by British Cycling.
‘We can ask British Cycling about any incidents in the past where we believe it is important how the governing body oversees their sport. These incidents could include the recent issues that have come up through the release of medical records.’
Wiggins has been under intense scrutiny since Russian hackers released medical records detailing his use of the banned corticosteroid, triamcinolone, prior to his historic 2012 Tour de France victory and two other major races.
And as Sportsmail revealed, Wiggins, Team Sky and British Cycling are the subject of a UK Anti-Doping investigation into ‘allegations of wrongdoing in cycling’ after it emerged a medical package was delivered by a British Cycling official to Team Sky at the end of a race in France in June 2011 that Wiggins had just won. So far nobody involved at either Team Sky or the governing body has confirmed what was in the package.
Collins stressed it was too early to say who would be called to appear before MPs. ‘We are not proposing to call individual athletes at this stage,’ he said. ‘Our interest is in how the processes are managed and accounted for by the relevant authorities. But we will obviously be interested as well in UK Anti-Doping’s investigation following the recent reports about the package delivered to Team Sky.’
UKAD have already made an unscheduled visit to British Cycling’s headquarters in Manchester, with sources suggesting that investigators seized computers in a bid to establish what was in the package ordered by Dr Richard Freeman — then at Team Sky, now at British Cycling but also Wiggins’ personal physician — and couriered by Simon Cope, who was a coach at British Cycling but is now the boss of Team Wiggins.
Investigators working for UKAD are in the process of interviewing those concerned, although their power remains limited, even though the sanctions could be severe if any wrongdoing is uncovered. At this stage there is no suggestion of a breach of anti-doping rules and Wiggins, Team Sky and British Cycling have denied any wrongdoing.
But the trafficking of a banned substance can lead to a maximum of a four-year ban, while tampering with an investigation — not telling the truth, essentially — can lead to just as severe a punishment.
Facing MPs is a potentially more serious situation, however, with witnesses running the risk of being in contempt of parliament if they do not tell the truth. And unlike private UKAD interviews, select committee hearings are televised live.
Senior officials at British Cycling are sure to be called by the select committee, and it could well be that Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford is also asked to appear. In 2011 he was the performance director at British Cycling as well as Team Sky boss.
Then, of course, there are those allegedly involved in the transportation of the package. Cope has suggested British Cycling lead physiotherapist Phil Burt was involved in packaging up the medication for him to take on a flight to Geneva before driving to the finish of the 2011 Dauphine Libere in La Toussuire.
Key Team Sky personnel like Shane Sutton, Tim Kerrison and Rod Ellingworth could also be asked to answer questions.
By his own admission Brailsford has made the situation ‘a damn sight worse’, not least by telling Sportsmail that Cope made the trip to France to meet Emma Pooley — when she was 700 miles away in Spain — and that Wiggins and Freeman could not have met in private on the team bus because the bus had already left. A video on YouTube proved that not to be the case.
Sutton, meanwhile, will discover today if a complaint made against him by Jess Varnish amid allegations of bullying and discrimination is upheld or he is exonerated. An internal British Cycling report will be delivered to the board today. Sutton, who resigned as technical director in April, is hoping he will be asked to reconsider his resignation.