Drug storm Wiggins – I would have been treated better if I’d murdered someone
Cycling hero vows he’s ‘100 per cent’ innocent of cheating
SIR Bradley Wiggins insisted he was ‘100 per cent’ not a drugs cheat last night and claimed he would have been treated better if he had ‘murdered someone’.
As pressure mounted on the five-time Olympic gold medallist over explosive doping claims, he hit back, insisting he was the victim of a witch-hunt.
Yesterday Halford’s, one of his major sponsors, announced it was reviewing its relationship with the star while one MP called on him to ‘justify’ his knighthood by proving his innocence.
But in a dramatic interview with the BBC, Sir Bradley, 37, said he had ‘never’ cheated and claimed the ‘malicious’ allegations were ‘someone trying to smear me’.
His spirited denial came hours after a bombshell report from MPs found he was given drugs to boost his performance before winning the 2012 Tour de France.
The Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee, which had been investigating doping in sport before it took on the Wiggins case, rejected claims he had taken triamcinolone to treat his asthma – saying it was actually used to ‘prepare’ the Team Sky rider for the race.
The MPs said Sir Bradley and Team Sky ‘crossed an ethical line’ by using drugs that are allowed under anti-doping rules but only for medical purposes.
Speaking to the BBC, Sir Bradley claimed he was the victim of a malicious smear.
Asked if he did not cheat, he replied: ‘100 per cent. Never, throughout my career.
‘I have worked and had the passion I have had for 15 to 20 years and to do that to the sport...it is the worst thing to be accused of.
‘It is also the hardest thing to prove you haven’t done,’ he said. ‘We’re not dealing in a legal system. I’d have had more rights if I had murdered someone.’
Sir Bradley added: ‘Not at any time in my career did we cross the ethical line. I refute that 100 per cent.’ He denied the claim he had used the drug nine times, saying: ‘This is malicious, this is someone trying to smear me.’
He reacted angrily to the confidential source quoted in the MPs’ report who claimed Sir Bradley trained separately from the rest of the team in preparation for the 2012 season.
He said he was the subject of a ‘witch hunt’ and that his children ‘get a hammering at school’ which is ‘disgusting to witness’. He said he was enduring ‘a living hell’, adding: ‘I don’t know what his [the source’s] motivation is. It was completely under medical need. I am having to deal with the fall-out; I am left in the middle trying to pick up the pieces.’
Sir Bradley said the report was ‘based on rumour’, adding: ‘Who are these sources? Come out. Go on record. This is serious stuff.’
The MPs’ report stated the commitee was ‘not in a position’ to determine what was in the ‘jiffy bag’ delivered to Sir Bradley before a race in 2011.
But it added there was no ‘reliable evidence’ to back up Team Sky’s claim that the medical package contained a legal decongestant. Asked what was in the bag, Sir Bradley replied: ‘God knows. Your guess is as good as mine. I don’t run the team, I was busy doing my job that I was paid to do. I didn’t even know there was a package until I was asked about it. It has become such a mess, it is ludicrous.’
Yesterday former Olympic athlete Roger Black said: ‘Sir Bradley needs a right to reply, but he needs to reply absolutely seriously and prove his innocence.
‘I won an Olympic silver medal – I didn’t take drugs. There’ll be people out there who say you cannot win an Olympic medal without taking drugs. I know that’s not true. But there’ll always be suspicion.
‘Bradley will claim that they were for medical reasons. He’s saying one thing, the MPs are saying another thing. He has to prove his innocence.’
Olympic track cycling gold medallist Victoria Pendleton backed her former teammate, saying she would ‘like to believe its not true’.
Last night Le Col, the British cycling brand which is working with Sir Bradley to produce his own range of cycling wear, said it was ‘totally committed’ to him despite the report.
But last night cycling firm Halfords said it was ‘in discussions with his management team regarding this latest report’ and one MP called on him to ‘justify’ his knighthood.
Labour’s John Mann said: ‘Sir Bradley Wiggins needs to justify why he should keep his knighthood and his sponsorship deals by now proving his innocence.’
The MPs’ report sent shockwaves through British cycling and dealt a massive blow to the reputation of Sir Bradley, who became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France just a week before the London Olympics.