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Bradley Wiggins and Richard Freeman at 2011 Tour de France video still.PNGUkad confirms Team Sky and British Cycling will not face charges over Jiffy bag delivered to Sir Bradley Wiggins at 2011 Criterium du Dauphine
UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) has closed its investigation into Team Sky and British Cycling without charges having failed to identify the contents of the package delivered to Sir Bradley Wiggins at the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné.
In his testimony before the select committee for culture, media and sport, Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford said he had been told that the substance in the now infamous Jiffy bag was Fluimucil.
British Cycling was unable to supply documentation to back up this assertion and Dr Richard Freeman, the doctor who ordered the package, was unable to give evidence to the inquiry, citing ill health. He has since resigned from his position at British Cycling .
Ukad chief executive Nicole Sapstead said that while the investigation had been closed, information would be handed to the General Medical Council (GMC) which might result in it carrying out its own investigation.
“Our investigation was hampered by a lack of accurate medical records being available at British Cycling. This is a serious concern. As part of their conditions to receive public funding from UK Sport and other Home Country Sports Councils, all sports governing bodies must comply with the UK National Anti-Doping Policy. In this case the matter was further complicated by the crossover between personnel at British Cycling and Team Sky.
“We have written to British Cycling and a copy of this letter has also been sent to UK Sport and Sport England. We have also separately written to Team Sky. Finally, we have referred some information to the GMC, and will cooperate with the GMC as necessary in respect of that information.”
British Cycling chief executive Julie Harrington admitted to previous failings at the organisation with regards to its medical record-keeping and also resulting from the blurring of lines between it and Team Sky.
She pointed to recent changes made at the organisation, such as the overhaul of its medical practices, as being indicative of its will to change.
“I would like to thank Nicole Sapstead and her team at Ukad for the diligence and determination they have shown in investigating this matter. Their work on this, and throughout sport, is essential if we are to earn and retain the trust of athletes and fans.
“Ukad’s findings represent an organisation and culture that, despite delivering on the world stage, did not meet the high standards that British Cycling today holds itself to. We note that Ukad have referred information arising from their investigation to the General Medical Council and we offer them our wholehearted cooperation.
“British Cycling have implemented a number of significant changes to the management of our medical services to the Great Britain Cycling Team following a review instigated in March by chair Jonathan Browning, shortly after his appointment. This was an external review led by Dr Rod Jaques of the English Institute of Sport and all of his recommendations have been accepted by British Cycling. We welcome Ukad’s support for these changes.
“The association between British Cycling and Team Sky has been a positive force for cycling in this country. However we accept that the relationship between British Cycling and Team Sky developed rapidly and as a result, at times, resulted in the blurring of the boundaries between the two. This led to some failings in the way that processes and people were managed.
“Today, based on our learning together there are clear boundaries and distinctions between our two organisations: no one is simultaneously employed by British Cycling and Team Sky; and we each have our own practices in place for managing athlete records.
“My focus now is on ensuring that we can give athletes and the public the reassurance they need to believe in our ability to win clean on the biggest global stages because of the systems and controls we have put in place. We are intent on ensuring that the integrity of our record keeping is never called into question again.”
A statement from Team Sky said:
“UK Anti-Doping has today confirmed that it does not intend to bring forward any anti-doping charges in relation to its investigation into issues around the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine. This investigation has now been brought to a close.
“We are pleased that UK Anti-Doping have concluded their investigation and that they will not be taking any further action. We have always maintained that there was no wrongdoing and we have co-operated fully with UK Anti-Doping over the last year.
“Since our inception as a new pro cycling team in 2010 we have continually strengthened our systems and processes so they best support our strong commitment to anti-doping.”
In a statement, Wiggins welcomed confirmation that no charges would be brought, but expressed his disappointment at the way Ukad had made the announcement.
“No evidence exists to prove a case against me and in all other circumstances this would be an unqualified finding of innocence.
“The amount of time it has taken to come to today’s conclusion has caused serious personal damage, especially as the investigation seems to be predicated on a news headline rather than real solid information.”
Wiggins goes on to ask a series of questions of Ukad regarding why it decided to launch an investigation in the first place and enquiring how much public money was spent.
My say on the matter... pic.twitter.com/7MiSsFHtQE
— Brad Wiggins (@SirWiggo) November 15, 2017
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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24 comments
In the movies the Mafia Bosses say they must be innocent because the authorities are unable to collect evidence as the key witnesses disappear into the woodwork under pressure to protect themselves.
How different it is with the all powerful Sky protesting their innocence as the good Doctor who holds all the answers disappears along with all the evidence.
I'm glad the movies are made up - I'd hate to think anything like that could happen in cycling.......
Well, TheDoctor does hate Sky. He's always one of the first to post.
There he is, up there, hating Sky.
How very dare you!
Knocking each other down is what makes this nation
great / ineffective / trollsBritish!Sometimes I do wish we were all a little bit more like those Americans, just a bit, just now and again.. however that may be the silliest thing I've ever thought, has anyone ever been to the deep south US.. I have, it's a bit weird.
so - we have no duck, but we do have records of an awful lot of plum sauce being bought by team sky, which they now have no record of - because of a "lack of infrastructure"
maybe they ate all the paperwork and that was the only purpose for the plum sauce in the first place?
Wiggins condemns the lack of record-keeping...then condones Freeman in the next paragraph.
Schizophrenic, much?
You're reading quite a bit into things, aren't you ? Wiggins said "[h]ad the infrastructure for precise record keeping had been in place this investigation would never have started" (my emphasis) and that he considered Freeman a "very good physician". Seems entirely consistent to me, regardless of the other matters of the case.
Not keeping records for this type of thing, or "losing" them, should be treated as some form of doping offence in it's own right.
Exactly this...
Agree with this... and if there is a positive outcome to come out of this process is that this loophole is closed for the future.
Much like the TUE loophole that enabled individual assessors to issue TUE's was closed, so that now a panel has to make a decision. For me, that's the smoking Sky gun... did they have relations with individuals issuing TUE's that compromised the inpartiality of the person issuing that TUE? My understanding is that they might have.
Wiggins and Sky can claim a victory, but for most people he and they will always be treated with suspicion.
Sir Bradley Wiggins.
Legend.
Witch hunt by scum, over?
By scum you mean UK Anti Doping?
The very worst type of scum I agree. How dare they try and find 'the truth'. They should crawl back to whatever hovel they call an office and let those nice people like Dave Brailsford and Shane Sutton alone to get on with winning medals!
I presume David Walsh was also/is scum?
Nope as UKAD were doing their job. I mean the likes of the beeb and the daily heil who love a bit of wiggo to sell papers or gain clicks and then go totally overboard to knock the hero's from the pedestal. Some of the vitriol in their content based on pure conjecture was mindblowingly ridiculous.
Walsh was a very brave journalist that pursued a story that needed telling based on very credible evidence.
I can't help reading that as a CB radio call:
10-4, but I'm heading into the Big-D with Smokeys all over my back door.
I feel the same when folks bang on about Contador, and his supposed guilt.
I dunno... 'Oi you, I heard you had a dodgy package delivered to you once... prove to me it wasn't doping products... sounds well dodge!'
Never really going anywhere was it?
Whilst I won't applaud Sky / BC's approach of silence and shoulder shrugging, Ihave to agree that it was the most effective, if ugly, way of riding this out.
As mentioned before... people look at this as the start, not the end... go find the evidence and if there is indeed evidence, lets bring that house of cards down. If not, then don't.
This whole 'looks like a duck' adage.. I get it, and agree to a degree... however I feel there has been a fair amount of shouting 'look at that duck, look at that duck' when there is nothing very remotely duck like about!
Sir, if it were any more Duck, it would be wearing a blue sailors suit, a red bow tie and would have three nephews.
I have no doubt that all professional cyclists are doing things that most of us would find strange and bordering on dubious in their intention to slip under the medical regulations set in place at this time. What i am more clear about is a belief that they are doing things that are a step ahead of what the regulatory bodies have currently got set in place., and if any of todays samples are tested in the future we may find those issues present.
but for now we have to believe what Sky said, dont we? To be honest its not really up there with dodgy doped steaks, or being in another continent or missing tests is it.
all i know is that if were able to test all of the TDF cyclists going back we would probably find a lot of stuff we didnt really expect to, or should find. no blood samples from lemond/indurain era so cant test them so they are clean right? i dont think so, but hey nothing to test, so its their word we believe; Same with Wiggins in my opinion.
you had me right up until, "so its their word we believe" - Lemond and Indurain are perhaps not the best examples for your argument here.
Fixed that for you as that would be more accurate/complete a statement.
Dear Sir Brad,
“No evidence exists to prove a case against me and in all other circumstances this would be an unqualified finding of innocence.
There is no evidence due to the great lengths Sky and BC went through to obfuscate the inquiry. The chronic amnesia suffered by anyone that had anything to do with the issue could be seen as potential evidence of an attempt to cover something up. Either way it's not a clear sign of innocence by a long, long way. By the way, there is no evidence to prove the case for a God and yet billions of people believe there is one. Sometimes, for some people, the obvious is obvious.
“The amount of time it has taken to come to today’s conclusion has caused serious personal damage, especially as the investigation seems to be predicated on a news headline rather than real solid information.”
The amount of time it has taken to come to today's conclusion is a direct result of the afore-mentioned amnesia and poor medical administration my dear fellow. The news headlines were themselves predicated on the fact that if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it's odds on to be a duck. If you are a clean athlete, then your rage should be directed at the amnesiac and pi55-poor administrators at Sky and BC who have created this mess. Not the press (for once) or the body that tried to investigate.
Like it or not, agree with it or not, innocent until/unless PROVEN guilty.
Absolutely true, and I'm not suggesting he is guilty, just that BC and Sky's smoke and mirrors approach doesn't project confidence in the assertion that no evidence means, unequivocally, no guilt. In the court of reasonable assumption, the shenanigans and laughable excuses offered by BC, Sky etc al would make one draw different conclusions.
Indeed. As Sam Harris so eloquently put it, "People believe in their billions what only a lunatic would believe alone."