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Team Sky confident UKAD will find no wrongdoing

December 20, 2016

Team Sky have said they are co-operating fully with a UK Anti-Doping probe into a package sent to Bradley Wiggins at the end of the 2011 Dauphine race. The British outfit are "confident" no wrongdoing will be found.

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Rio Olympischen Spiele 2016 13 08 - Bradley Wiggins
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/P. Golovkin

The British team issued a statement following boss Dave Brailsford's cross-examination by the British parliament's Culture, Media and Sport committee on Monday at which he revealed the "mystery" package contained the over-the-counter decongestant Fluimucil.

Earlier, at the same hearing, former coach Shane Sutton confirmed that the package had contained medicine although he did not know what it was. Sutton said it had been administered to Wiggins by team doctor Richard Freeman.

No wrongdoing

"Dave gave public evidence to the Select Committee yesterday for an hour as part of their inquiry into anti-doping," Team Sky said in a statement.

"As we have always said we believe what is most important is for UKAD to establish the truth independently. We are confident that when they report it will be clear that there has been no wrongdoing."

England London Bradley Wiggins Rekordversuch Bahnradfahren
Wiggins sent decongestant in package at 2011 DauphineImage: Reuters/A. Winning

Team Sky and British Cycling have come under the spotlight in recent months with UKAD launching an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing.

A Daily Mail story revealing that a package had been delivered by a British Cycling coach to Team Sky in 2011 followed shortly after cyber hackers breached the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) database.

They released details of Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) issued to Wiggins ahead of the Tour de France in 2011 and 2012 and the 2013 Giro d'Italia.

World's cleanest

Brailsford, who prides himself on Team Sky being the world's cleanest cycling team, admitted during the hearing that he had handled the situation regarding the package and Wiggins' TUEs badly but insisted there had been no intention to mislead.

He told MPs that an invoice "should be there" to document the shipment of Fluimucil - a drug that loosens mucus and which is not on WADA's prohibited list.

"There's always lessons to be learned and you start with yourself. I could have done a lot better quite frankly," Brailsford said on Monday.

"We have reviewed all our policies and how we use TUEs in the future and how do we gain and provide transparency while protecting competitive advantage."

idr/rd (Reuters)