Team Sky did not keep complete records of riders' treatment, says head of UK Anti-Doping agency
Record ID:
899072
Team Sky did not keep complete records of riders' treatment, says head of UK Anti-Doping agency
- Title: Team Sky did not keep complete records of riders' treatment, says head of UK Anti-Doping agency
- Date: 1st March 2017
- Summary: VERVIERS, BELGIUM (JUNE 29, 2012) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** BRADLEY WIGGINS OPENING THE CURTAINS OF TEAM SKY BUS AND STEPPING DOWN CLOSE UP WIGGINS BRADLEY WIGGINS CYCLES AWAY PARIS, FRANCE (JULY 22, 2012) (REUTERS) TOUR DE FRANCE WINNER BRADLEY WIGGINS ON PODIUM, PUTS ON YELLOW JERSEY AND WAVES HIS ARMS TO FANS
- Embargoed: 15th March 2017 18:51
- Keywords: UK Anti-doping Team Sky Bradley Wiggins
- Location: LONDON AND ECCLESTON, ENGLAND, UK/FILE
- City: LONDON AND ECCLESTON, ENGLAND, UK/FILE
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Cycling,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA003664Q2PR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Team Sky did not keep complete medical records for their riders, the head of the UK Anti-Doping agency said on Wednesday (March 1).
Sky are at the centre of an investigation into the contents of a package delivered to team doctor Richard Freeman in 2011 for Bradley Wiggins, who won the Criterium du Dauphine and went on to win the 2012 Tour de France.
Nicole Sapstead, chief executive of the anti-doping body, told the British Parliament's select committee on culture, media and sport select that Dr Richard Freeman was overseeing the Dauphine for Team Sky but did not record details of riders' treatment on a central database, against Team Sky policy. The records remained on his laptop computer, she said, which was later stolen.
"There are no records, particularly those kept by Dr Freeman, who was the doctor overseeing the Team Sky at this particular event. There are absolutely no records whatsoever of any treatment whatsoever during that event," she told the members of parliament in London.
She added her agency was unable to establish what treatments were taking place either through Team Sky or through British Cycling, which Dr Freeman also worked for. British Cycling had not provided her with an excuse for why no such records were kept.
Team principal Dave Brailsford told the committee in December he had been told by Freeman that the package contained Fluimucil, a legal decongestant.
Simon Cope, given the task of collecting the package from Manchester Velodrome and delivering the package to Team Sky in France, said he had not enquired what was in the package, despite carrying it across international borders via an aircraft.
"I have been a cyclist for 30 plus years and looked up to British Cycling. We have done so well and with the stance of zero tolerance towards performance-enhancing drugs. I would have never thought that something like that would be in a package so I had no reason to believe it was anything untoward at all," he said.
When asked if he had been "stitched up" or compromised by his employers, he declined to add more.
Sapstead said that UKAD could not confirm or disprove that the package contained Fluimucil.
She agreed with one of the committee members that it struck her as odd that Team Sky, which promoted the principle of riding clean, would not keep records to prove this policy was being kept.
"It strikes me as odd too," she said. "Yes, I would expect for particularly a professional road cycling team that was founded on the premise of exhibiting that road racing could be conducted cleanly, not to have records that would be able to demonstrate any inferences to the contrary."
Doctor Freeman pulled out of his scheduled hearing on Wednesday because he was "too unwell" to attend. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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