Team Sky's Dave Brailsford to appear before select committee

Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford has been asked to appear before the Culture Media and Sport select committee as part of its inquiry into how cycling has handled anti-doping issues and the use of therapeutic use exemptions.
Dave Brailsford of Team Sky will face a select committee.  Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for LeadersDave Brailsford of Team Sky will face a select committee.  Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for Leaders
Dave Brailsford of Team Sky will face a select committee. Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for Leaders

Brailsford is likely to be asked about Sir Bradley Wiggins being granted three TUEs to take the powerful anti-inflammatory drug triamcinolone to deal with a pollen allergy that aggravates his long-standing asthma condition.

Five-time Olympic champion Wiggins was given injections of triamcinolone shortly before the 2011 and 2012 editions of the Tour de France and the 2013 Giro d’Italia.

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He received widespread criticism for using triamcinolone after a group of Russian computer hackers known as the Fancy Bears published the private medical data in September but denied any wrongdoing and insisted he was not trying to gain an “unfair advantage”.

CMS committee chairman Damian Collins told The Times: “Sir Dave Brailsford has been one of the most senior figures in British cycling over the last 10 years and we thought it important to speak to him as part of our inquiry into how the sport has handled anti-doping issues and the ethics around TUEs.

“We are now talking to Team Sky about a date when he can come and speak to us.”

Brailsford is also likely to face questions about a mystery delivery of a medical package to Team Sky in France in June 2011, shortly before Wiggins secured his first TUE.

MPs are also set to interview British Cycling chairman Bob Howden and head of the governing body’s ethics commission George Gilbert at a hearing, where World Anti-Doping Agency president Sir Craig Reedie will give evidence, on December 19.

“We have fixed December 19 for a session where we will hear from Craig Reedie and representatives of the British Cycling governing body,” Collins added.

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