Speaking on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday on BBC, Wiggins stated that the steroid had been prescribed for “allergies and respiratory problems”.
Advertisement
But in an answer that may raise eyebrows, he told Marr that he was referring to needles used for doping rather than for medical purposes and that the passage should be seen in that context.
US tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams, US gymnast Simone Biles and Wiggins’ Team Sky teammate Chris Froome have also been the subject of leaks.
Questions have been raised, however, about an apparent contradiction with the account given of the 2012 Tour de France in his autobiography.
He took the drug shortly before the 2011 and 2012 editions of the Tour de France and the 2013 Giro d’Italia.
“He said ‘yep, there’s something you can do but you’re going to need authorisation from cycling’s governing body [the UCI]'”.
“When you win the race three weeks out from the Tour de France, as I did with the [Criterium du] Dauphine, you’re the favourite for the Tour”, he added.
However, he added: “This was to cure a medical condition”.
Wiggins, though, told the Andrew Marr Show he needed the drug to combat a serious allergy to pollen that would exacerbate his asthma.
“This was about putting myself back on a level playing-field in order to compete at the highest level”.
“I’ve been a lifelong sufferer of asthma, and I went to my team doctor at the time and we went to a specialist”.
Sir Bradley’s representatives had previously said there “was nothing new” in the leaked material.
“And, in turn, I took that medical advice (to take triamcinolone)”.
“Intravenous injections of iron, EPO etc, no one ever asked the question, have you ever had an injection by a medical professional to treat or cure a medical condition?” He told De Limburger, a regional paper in the Netherlands, that injecting would mean that Wiggins would have had “very bad asthma” and should not have been allowed to take part in races so soon after receiving them.
Steffen on Friday told the BBC’s Newsnight program that the leaked details of Wiggins’ exemptions did not “look good”.
“It does not look good, it doesn’t look right from a health or a sporting perspective”.
“I can understand, that is still an open wound in our sport, and as I’ve said, this particular drug was abused back in that era [.] Even with the needle comments that I made, if I can paint a picture of the landscape at that time; in 2012, right at the height of Lance Armstrong and just before the crash, as it were, with him, that.’have you ever used needles, ‘ it was always a loaded question with regards to doping”.
The treatment was approved by cycling authorities and there is no suggestion any rules have been broken, but the former Team Sky rider has still come under scrutiny over his use of TUEs.
“This is a complex area given the obvious issues around medical confidentiality”, they continued.
“Team Sky’s approach to anti-doping and our commitment to clean competition are well known”.
Advertisement
Wiggins will hope this interview draws a line under a hard chapter in what has been an otherwise magnificent story for him as an athlete, particularly as he is widely expected to retire as a professional rider at the end of this season.
