Paul Kimmage shares reminder of lofty ethics at early Team Sky

The section of transcript from an interview Paul Kimmage did with Dave Brailsford of Team Sky back in November 2009

Having been to the fore in recent weeks in questioning Team Sky’s transparency and the objectivity of some of the reporting in the media of the TUE scandal, Paul Kimmage has shared a very interesting section of a piece he wrote in 2009.

The story, written when Kimmage worked for The Sunday Times, resulted from an interview with Dave Brailsford who was starting out as principal at Team Sky at the time.

Brailsford talks the long term plan for the team to be the best in the world, how Wiggins could improve on his 4^th place at the 2009 Tour and the ethics he would follow as he tried to achieve that.

He says if there was doping in the team he would expose it. And if he felt his riders’ could not compete to win the Tour without doping he would walk away.

None of that is much of a revelation as Brailsford has said it many times since then.

And while Bradley Wiggins is accused of taking powerful medicines under TUE just before the Tours of 2011 and 2012 and Giro of 2013 there is no suggestion whatever that he doped or broke any rules.

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However, at the end of the section of text Kimmage released shared on Twitter, he says Brailsford could sense he was not convinced the team could commit to such big plans like winning the Tour while following the ethics he was espousing.

Kimmage then says a week after the interview he and Brailsford began texting.

Kimmage asked him if there was a difference between doing the right thing and being seen to do the right thing.

Brailsford replied: “Good point – the only way is to do the right thing regardless of being seen or not.”