Fears over transparency within a sport that “has had its problems with doping in the past” are at the root of a governmental investigation into British Cycling’s use of TUEs.
Details of a forthcoming MP-led select committee investigation into British Cycling’s practices, and the organisation’s use of performance enhancing drugs via therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs), emerged in a BBC Radio 5 live interview with culture, media and sport select committee chairman Damien Collins this week.
Questions over the cleanliness of British riders have been raised since the release of World Anti Doping Agency records via the Fancy Bears leak earlier this year. The records that were released that showed many top British athletes – including Sir Bradley Wiggins and Laura Trott – had been using banned substances via TUEs, and the imminent MP investigation is looking to deduce whether or not the use of these substances was fair or not.
“Cycling has had its problems with doping in the past,” Collins told the Sportsweek show before affirming that the investigation was worth doing regardless as to whether British Cycling had done anything wrong.
“It may well be that nobody has done anything wrong but is the process itself right?” Collins asked.
“We want to understand more about the way TUEs works and how British Cycling oversees that as the governing body.
“With something as important as this, they should have records. In a sport like cycling, there should be a degree of transparency and that is one of our concerns.”
>Read more: Bradley Wiggins defends drug use on Andrew Marr show
All of the British Cyclists implicated in the leaks have denied seeking any advantage from taking these drugs, though many people within the sport have criticised the use.
David Millar, a controversial figure in cycling due to his own doping conviction in 2004, said that the drug Wiggins used via TUE was ‘scary,’ while French rider Tom Dumoulin said it was strange that Wiggins was prescribed the drugs he was.
One of the biggest points of contension that Collins hopes to clear up during his investigation is the claim that British Cycling made a medical delivery to Team Sky in France on the day Wiggins won the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine.
It is understood that the UK Ant-Doping Agency is investigating those claims already.
7 thoughts on “MPs set to question British Cycling over TUE use”
Exciting times. Since the bio
Exciting times. Since the bio-passport improvement, this harder look at TUE’s seems to be the next big area to help clean up the sport (not that using a TUE is cheating, just that their use seems to be a little boarderline at times).
Oh, FFS.
Oh, FFS.
Why women in cycling are treated as second class citizens would be better worthy of questions. Why complaints about sexist behaviour were ignored, why it took so long for it all to be taken seriously, why there’s still no equivalence between men and women. Those areas deserve to be questioned.
dottigirl wrote:
all that and whether or not people are delibratly cheating.
Dotti, equivalence or
Dotti, equivalence or equality? A lot of the ‘unfair’ or ‘grey areas’ between male and female sports frustrate me. Why should women’s cycling be the same as mens? Strive to be as good as you can be, hell why not strive to be better. Women are now paid ‘equally’ at Wimbledon for playing less sets than men, is that equality or are we to be happy because the minority that moaned got their way. I would personally make it a level playing field, don’t have gender as a factor at all, let women compete alongside men. Oh dear, that’s the end of competitive frmale cycling at the top level.
Back on topic, could British Cycling ask MPs how the Brexit vote was won based on lies and whether they have found those WMD’s in Iraq…
maybe I missed something
maybe I missed something here. MP’s who know sweet fa about doping are going to grandstand in front of some committee to produce more hot air on a subject that has sweet fa to do with the lives of 99.9999% of the UK population ? Meanwhile two more cyclists have been crushed by HGV’s in London because all that comes out of Westminster is platitudes, soundbites and bullshit about cycling ? Forgive me if I am more than a little angry about the priorities of those in the Westminster bubble but their heads seem so far up their on arseholes that they’re incapable of seeing how they might be able to bring about positive change for that 99.9999% they’re supposed to be serving. rant over
arfa wrote:
Took the words out of my mouth. Total hypocrite politicians.
arfa wrote:
as Ive said on other threads on this subject, let this select committee, whose role only covers holding the Department of Culture Media & Sport to account, produce their report, and then criticise it if it fails to deliver anything meaningful on the subject, critcising it before its even begun is pointless.
if you want MPs to start an inquiry into safer cycling on the streets or enact real change to make things better, then sorry but youve got to lobby your MP to do so, thats just how the system works.