Irish doctor blocked fourth TUE for Bradley Wiggins – Sunday Times
Dr Alan Farrell is reported to have refused to give Dr Richard Freeman a computer system password to apply for a fourth TUE for Bradley Wiggins.
An Irish medic working with Team Sky, Dr Alan Farrell, took steps to block his colleague applying for a fourth therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for triamcinolone for Bradley Wiggins, The Sunday Times has reported.
The newspaper has also reported details of a delivery of testosterone patches to the National Cycling Centre in Manchester where both Team Sky and British Cycling were based at the time.
Dr Richard Freeman, who no longer works for Team Sky but still works for British Cycling, explained to colleagues at the time that the patches had never been ordered and had been delivered in error.
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According to a report by journalist David Walsh, when the 2011 delivery arrived it was brought to the attention of medical staff, including British Cycling’s head of medicine Dr Steve Peters.
Peters, it is reported, has told the UK Anti Doping investigation into practices at the team and national governing body that he was satisfied the matter was a genuine error.
He said Freeman contacted the supplier to point it out to them and he returned the package and was issued with a confirmation letter from the supplier that the delivery was a mistake.
Peters said because he believed the matter was a genuine error, he did not bring it any further.
He also said he did not tell Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford what had happened.
Elsewhere in the newspaper report today, it is stated that when Dr Alan Farrell joined Team Sky in 2013 he soon learned that Wiggins had had three TUEs for triamcinolone.
While the TUEs had been applied for through the proper channels and approved meaning neither Wiggins nor the team broke any rules, the newspaper report states some staff were concerned.
And when the team’s password for the administration and management system (Adams) that TUEs must be applied for through was changed, it is reported that Dr Farrell would not inform Dr Freeman of it.
Wiggins was preparing to ride the Tour of Britain and Dr Freeman wanted to apply for another TUE for triamcinolone. It is reported Dr Farrell went to other staff in the team rather than supply the password.
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Wiggins went on to ride the race and won it but no TUE was ever applied for.
Dr Farrell has since left Team Sky and now works in cycling for Aqua Blue Sport, the Irish ProContinental team currently in its first year in the international peloton.
History of Wiggins controversies
Late last year the TUE details of a number of world class athletes were publicly leaked after the Russian Fancy Bears hacking team obtained them when it hacked WADA.
Wiggins was one of those riders whose details were leaked and it showed he had availed of TUES for the corticosteroid triamcinolone before the Tour de France in 2011, which he crashed out of, and in 2012 when he won.
He also availed of a third TUE before the Giro d’Italia the following year.
He has said that the TUEs were to treat respiratory problems linked to hay fever.
He told a BBC interview shortly after the controversy broke that he needed to avail of the TUEs to treat a genuine medical condition.
David Millar said he had used the same types of drugs and had seen his weight drop and power increase.
However, Wiggins said those results had come about because riders who did not medically need the medicines had been abusing them.
He said his case was different because he was in medical need, adding all of his TUEs were applied for through the proper channels and sanctioned by those who run the oversight process for TUEs.
Separately, Wiggins and Team Sky, as well as British Cycling, remain embroiled in controversy over the delivery of a jiffy bag to Team Sky in France in 2011.
The bag was brought to the team from the UK on the final day of the Critérium du Dauphiné, which Wiggins won overall.
The team has said the bag contained an over the counter decongestant Fluimucil, which is not banned and for which no TUE is even needed.
Bradley Wiggins and the team have said the medicine, which breaks up mucus, was taken by Wiggins via a nebuliser.
However, nobody has been able to furnish any records to confirm what was in the bag, a factor that has proven damaging to their reputations.
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