The findings of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee's report into 'Combating Doping in Sport' has provided a damning indictment of British Cycling, Team Sky and their principal, Dave Brailsford.
The report, almost three years in making, and released for public consumption on Monday, set out a detailed analysis of the medical practices used and abused by both British Cycling and Team Sky, and shed further light on their dwindling credibility through the eyes of the Committee. There was also the inclusion of new evidence, and a startling testimony that indicated the Committee's belief that Team Sky riders, other than Bradley Wiggins, were treated with corticoidsteroids out of competition in order to shed weight ahead of the 2012 Tour de France. Not illegal per se, but a tactic that further damages Team Sky's credibility and Dave Brailsford's position. Team Sky have denied the allegation.
The report also states that the General Medical Council should take 'appropriate action' in relation to Dr Freeman – the man at the centre of the infamous jiffy-bag,' – and that Team Sky and British Cycling should provide UK Anti-Doping with compensation. There is also a call from the Committee for certain doping offences to become criminalised.
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The overriding message from the report, in relation to Team Sky, criticised the organisation over their conduct. Team Sky were founded in 2010 and professed to be 100 per cent clean from the outset. They introduced and preached a policy of zero tolerance but were made, by the Committee's questioning and findings, to look weak, haphazard in their attempts to nullify questioning from both reporters and the Committee, disjointed in procedure and most alarming of all, unable to provide evidence to back up their story.
Read more on this story
- Opinion: Brailsford must resign for Team Sky to survive
- Exclusive: Team Sky riders consider asking Brailsford to resign
- De Jongh: I can't see Brailsford lasting at Team Sky
- UKAD chairman labels British Cycling's and Brailsford's parliamentary evidence 'extraordinary'
- Former British Cycling coach claims there was a 'macho and brutal' culture under Brailsford
- Pooley: Brailsford and Sky need to get their facts straight
- UKAD investigation rolls on as Brailsford's parliamentary questioning looms
The report, which was launched in 2015, looked at a number of issues including athletics, TUEs and cycling. The focus on cycling came after the 2016 Fancy Bears hack revealed that Bradley Wiggins had taken three doses of the powerful corticoid, triamcinolone, on the eve of three Grand Tours between 2011 and 2013. He famously went on to win the Tour de France in 2012, becoming the first British rider and Team Sky athlete to do so.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/select-committees-report-darkens-clouds-over-team-sky-and-brailsford
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