'Less than 10' doses of triamcinolone for riders, says Brailsford
Bradley Wiggins on his way to winning the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine
Team Sky responded to additional questions from Damian Collins MP of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee surrounding the supposed importation of an inhaled decongestant Fluimucil from Manchester to the team at the Criterium du Dauphine carried out by Simon Cope. The team revealed that Dr. Richard Freeman, who ordered Cope to courier a medical package to the race for Bradley Wiggins, had previously obtained the drug from a Swiss pharmacy just 250km away.
Wiggins was celebrating his overall victory in the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine in La Toussuire when Cope delivered the package, having flown nearly 1,000km from Manchester.
Team Sky had previously explained that the form of the drug they claim was in the 'jiffy bag', a 10 per cent solution in 3ml dose for use in a nebuliser, was not available in France, and even if it was, Dr. Freeman had no powers to write prescriptions in France.
But he did, according to Sky, have prescription rights in Switzerland, and had ordered the drug from the Pharmacie de la Plaine in Yverdon, a three-hour drive away from the stage where Wiggins sealed the victory.
The Parliamentary committee questioned Team Sky as part of a larger inquiry into doping sport, and repeated questions about why Dr. Freeman failed to follow team policy in uploading riders' medical records to a common Dropbox. Freeman kept the records on a laptop computer that was stolen in 2014. It may have contained the only records to prove that the medical package for Wiggins was actually Fluimucil.
Freeman was due to testify in front of the committee, but dropped out citing illness.
Team Sky also explained away the large order of the corticosteroid triamcinolone by Dr. Freeman. Wiggins obtained three Therapuetic Use Exemptions (TUEs) for the drug, one of which was approved on June 29, 2011, just two weeks following the delivery of the 'jiffy bag'.
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Team Sky previously corrected the committee about its stock of triamcinolone, stating that it had ordered 55 ampoules between 2010 and 2013. In its response published today to how much was used by the athletes, Sky wrote, "Based on Team Sky’s shared medical records, less than 10 ampoules of Triamcinolone were administered to Team Sky riders in the four years between 2010 to 2013.
"It is important to emphasise again that we would only ever allow Triamcinolone to be provided as a legitimate and justified medical treatment in accordance with the applicable anti-doping rules."
