Cycling: Report: Team Sky abused derogations

The British Ministry of Sport has made serious accusations against the cycling team Team Sky and has put former Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins in the spotlight. According to a study by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Sky has abused medical exemptions to win the 2012 Tour of France with Wiggins at the top.

The report is seen in the British media as a possible “death sentence” for Team Sky. The team has been under pressure for some time because of the fall of Wiggins and the Salbutamol affair over the four-time Tour de France winner Christopher Froome.

The Ministry of Sport regards it as proven that Wiggins and possibly his team Sky assistants consumed performance-enhancing corticosteroids under the guise of special permits – to prepare for the tour. Team manager David Brailsford threw the team ethos of “clean victory” overboard out of greed for success.

In addition, the report considers the ominous delivery of medicines to Wiggins in 2011 to be untrustworthy. Contrary to Sky and Wiggins, the package should not have contained Fluimucil, but the corticosteroid triamcinolone.

The report emphasises that the findings do not constitute a violation of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s anti-doping code. However, doping substances within this code have been used to increase driver performance – “not only for medical reasons”.

Team Sky and Wiggins rejected the accusations, saying,”I find it sad that accusations can be made that accuse people of things they have never done but which are seen as facts,”Wiggins said. The five-time Olympic champion added that he would give a detailed statement in the next few days in order to clear up the accusations.