Team Sky has reiterated its “100% commitment” to clean competition as UK Anti-Doping investigators met British Cycling at the home of the national governing body – which it shares with Sky – following allegations of wrongdoing in the sport.
Two Ukad officials travelled on Friday to the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, known as the ‘medal factory’ and the place where the successes of the past three Olympic Games were made. Ukad would not comment further to “protect the integrity of the investigation” but Sky said in a statement that they had informed British Cycling of an allegation of wrongdoing reported in the Daily Mail and asked them to contact UK Anti-Doping, which would appear to have led to the visit.
“It has been a challenging few weeks for the team. Given some of the recent headlines we wanted to set out the facts,” read a statement. “Team Sky was recently contacted by the Daily Mail regarding an allegation of wrongdoing which we strongly refute. We informed British Cycling of the allegation and asked them to contact UK Anti-Doping (Ukad). We understand that Ukad are currently investigating this as you would expect.
“Some newspapers this morning have reported that Team Sky and British Cycling were ‘raided’ by Ukad yesterday [Friday]. This was not the case. Ukad have confirmed they attended a meeting with British Cycling at the Velodrome in Manchester with their full cooperation.
“We welcome this investigation as we are confident there has been no wrongdoing. We take these issues seriously and we will cooperate fully with Ukad. We hope it can be completed as thoroughly and quickly as possible.
“In the meantime we hope that you will understand why we cannot comment on the specifics of the allegations or the details of the process. Team Sky abide by the rules. We are committed to clean competition and we want you to know that we 100% stand by that.”
The initial Ukad announcement came as the Daily Mail reported the anti-doping authority is investigating Team Sky and Sir Bradley Wiggins over the contents of a medical package, allegedly delivered to Team Sky in France on 12 June 2011. The newspaper reported that Ukad is looking at what that contained.
It is understood that Wiggins and his representatives have received no notification from Ukad and believe the 36-year-old is not a subject of the investigation.
The five-times Olympic champion, who became Britain’s first Tour de France winner in 2012, said on Saturday: “I welcome this investigation.” Team Sky are “confident there has been no wrongdoing” and had asked British Cycling to contact Ukad. British Cycling said it is “cooperating fully”.
There is no timescale for Ukad investigations and the British doping body did not go into any detail about the allegations and mentioned no names. But concerns on Thursday were raised about the availability of the controversial and powerful painkiller Tramadol among the Great Britain team at the 2012 Road World Championships. Tramadol is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s monitoring list, with concerns over its side effects.
Sir Dave Brailsford combined his role as British Cycling performance director and Team Sky principal until April 2014, when he quit the national governing body.
Brailsford oversaw the British team that won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 Games in London. Brailsford now concentrates on Team Sky, which was established with a zero tolerance to doping mantra.
Britain won six gold medals at the Rio Olympics in August, despite Brailsford’s successor Shane Sutton leaving his role in April under discrimination allegations which are subject of an independent review.
Many riders and staff members have had, and some continue to have, dual roles with British Cycling and Team Sky.
The partnership was cleared of any conflict over UK Sport funding in March 2011 after a year-long review carried out by Deloitte.
Now British Cycling and Team Sky are under further scrutiny.
Team Sky and Brailsford have tried to ascertain the events of June 2011, gathering written statements from staff present at the time and documentation to piece together the events. The evidence was for British Cycling and Ukad.
The logistics surrounding a cycling team are complex and packages are regularly transported. Determining the contents of the specific package will be central to the investigation, which could take some time.
The Daily Mail reported on Thursday that while British Cycling did not identify the substance in the package, the national governing body indicated it did not contain triamcinolone.
According to documents leaked by the hacker group Fancy Bears, Wiggins had a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for triamcinolone acetonide – a synthetic corticosteroid – which was effective from 29 June 2011. Any use of a banned substance requires an active TUE.
Wiggins won the Dauphiné Libéré stage race – now known as the Critérium du Dauphiné – on the day the package was reportedly delivered, completing victory in the eight-day event after the final stage to La Toussuire.
It was Wiggins’s biggest road success to date and he was one of the favourites for the 2011 Tour de France, only to sustain a fractured collarbone on stage seven. He became the first British winner of the Tour a year later.
Wiggins and Team Sky have strenuously denied any wrongdoing since it emerged that the five-times Olympic champion has received six TUEs during his career, insisting each time the exemptions were medically necessary due to asthma and pollen allergies.
Wiggins used the powerful anti-inflammatory drug triamcinolone – a substance which has a history of abuse in cycling – on the eve of the 2011 and 2012 Tours and 2013 Giro d’Italia.
Three TUEs – to take the drug to deal with a pollen allergy that aggravates his long-standing asthma condition – were approved by the UCI, cycling’s world governing body, and there is no suggestion that Wiggins or the team have broken any rules.
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, who was sacked by Team Sky in 2014 and served a two-year ban for an anti-doping infringement, told the BBC on Thursday that the controversial and powerful painkiller Tramadol “was offered freely around” the British team during the 2012 Road World Championships.
The team doctor from the event denies the claim, sources within British Cycling said.
