Five Olympic golds, seven Track World Championships, one Road World Championship, one European Track Championship, and one Tour de France title. That’s just the first place finishes that adorn the trophy cabinet at Sir Bradley Wiggins’ house.
Sir Bradley is a legend, a larger-than-life sportsman who transcends cycling and has captured the hearts and minds of the British sporting public.
And, shockingly, Wiggins has recently become a man in the middle of tentative doping insinuations after Fancy Bears, a hacking group which is allegedly Russian, leaked details about how he took a powerful corticosteroid, triamcinolone, before his biggest races of the season in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Wiggins has explained that he has asthma and received permission from the authorities for therapeutic use exemption (TUE) on each of the occasions exposed by Fancy Bears.
That explanation is, of course, above reproach.
A few questions, however, remain unanswered.
Why was a 40mg injection of triamcinolone taken just before the 2012 Tour de France?
Wiggins maintains that it was because he “really struggled” with respiratory problems and the drug just levelled the playing field.
The problem is that, in 2012, writing in his autobiography about the same event, he said: “I’d done all the work. I was fine-tuned. I was ready to go. My body was in good shape. I’m in the form of my life. I was only ill once or twice with minor colds, and I barely lost a day’s training from it.”
The two assertions are obviously far from consistent.
Perhaps a less damning question is about how the ‘no needles’ rhetoric interspersed through his autobiography reconciles with the fact that he took injections of a powerful drug before some of the toughest races of his life.
His explanation for this can probably be taken more at face value, that for him, the term ‘no needles’ referred to doping rather than medication.
Even here, he is having to face a few sceptics, who are less generous with their opinions.
While British Cycling tries to extricate themselves from this mess, indignantly protesting about this diluting the real doping issues of Russia, the truth is that this is a serious issue which must be addressed at the same time.
Are TUEs being abused?
Can cycling prove that they’re not when faced with such evidence, even if it is circumstantial?
In a post-Lance Armstrong world, when cycling is trying to prove its squeaky clean reputation, can they afford this kind of a situation?
It’s a real tragedy when a great sportsman like Sir Bradley is just about to ride into the sunset at the pinnacle of his career, only to have these allegations surface.
The cycling establishment needs to deal with this in a firm and permanent fashion to settle these allegations once and for all.
If they don’t, the Fancy Bears of this world will be right to maintain that people in glass houses should not throw stones.
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
This is how steroids are used in cycling: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/opinion/sunday/how-to-get-away-with-doping.html
Carlos the Argie
Roar Guru
Interesting, MTX is the basic drug to treat RA. I am surprised that he mentions that he is able to perform without it. MTX deals with the inflammation. If MTX did;t work, most RA patients will take alternatives, the most common ones are TNF inhibitors. James Lowe, wing of the Chiefs, takes one of them for his Juvenile RA, which can be a more sever form of the disease. Corticosteroids are clearly not preferred for chronic use in RA. Their side effects and efficacy are not good.
Welshman
Guest
Or let wiggins enter the paralympics as an athlete disabled by his untreated asthma.
damo
Guest
Here's an idea, since TUE's are to bring the ill athlete back to a level playing field as Wiggins put it. Yes you can use the banned substance, but since you are ill, while you are using it, you cannot compete. Once you are no longer ill, then back on your bike so to speak & off you go. There will be a window where the substance can be detected, & that will be your window where you cannot compete.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Happy to hear that the childhood ailment left you. It's a very difficult condition to deal with I know. Given what you went through Matthew, it's interesting what your view is on competing in top level sports with TUE managed ailments.
Big Steve
Guest
and that is the answer Anindya. teams and cyclists will push the rules as far as they can or just a bit further. so the rules need to be absolute no exceptions. someone with asthma can't be a world champion just like people with hundreds of other conditions. it sounds unfair but in reality is probably the most fair.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
The problem clearly is how the rules are laid down and administered, right? In the industry Where i work, I was always taught to follow the spirit of the law rather than necessarily how it's laid down. But that's been abused and now the industry is in recognizable for its regulation and stifling the way it functions. In sport, those "old world" values clearly have been non existent for decades. Particularly in cycling. So I don't think there is a choice but to make the rules so strict that no abuse is possible. Unfortunately, if that means a cyclist with asthma cannot be world champion without taking therapeutic drugs that would also help their physical performance, then so be it. It's the price to pay for a true level playing field.
Rob Gremio
Roar Pro
Fair call, Tim.
Tim
Guest
From an interview the week of 24/01/2015: http://www.ridemedia.com.au/interviews/bobridge-ive-beaten-an-unbreakable-record-before/ RIDE: You had a real problem with rheumatoid arthritis and you had a medication that you ceased [using]. Can you summarise that for me Jack? Jack Bobridge: “Yeah, obviously I had the arthritis but I was using a medication called ‘Methotrexate’ which didn’t sit well with me for a year, a year-and-a-half. I have done a fair bit of study on it and I stopped using that…” RIDE: And that came because you consulted a general physician and he offered it as a solution to the pain… and where was the pain? JB: “It’s obviously something that they use in everyday arthritis patients but if you look at it in terms of some one who was to work in an office, behind a desk, it’s probably something that works quite well. Being an elite sports person at the level that we have to compete at, I’ve found that I struggled with it and had a real fatigued feeling, and was not able to perform at my best. By dropping that, every week since then I’ve come right back to the feelings that I used to have which is a fantastic feeling to have. Now I’m putting out the numbers and doing things that I was previously. It’s a really good indication that [Methotrexate] wasn’t working for me so now I’ve gone COMPLETELY NATURAL (my emphasis) … and just changed my diet a lot: less dairy, less red meat, cut out a lot of sugars – everything like that. Me and my wife have studied it and we’ve found that this is the most beneficial thing for me.” Oh, and the systemic corticosteroid regime which he commenced 1 month before this interview (15mg prednisolone taken orally ) but failed to mention. Rob, you have a be a little skeptical of cyclists - the sport has so much doping history that every ailment raises an eyebrow and every lie caught out is a red flag.
Rob Gremio
Roar Pro
Bobridge's TUE is for Rheumatoid Arthritis, which he has been receiving treatment for over the last 5 years. It is no secret. It is clearly NOT the same as the Wiggins situation, where he himself has said the TUE was for "preventative" reasons, not due to a flare up in his condition. http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/article/2016/09/18/bobridge-has-no-problem-wada-exemption-hack
BrainsTrust
Guest
Wiiggins has clearly gone way past the point of no return with such a large injection, I don't see anything wrong with the concept of the TUE but it needs to be much more carefuly monitored, and an independent medicaL observer needs to be there as well.
Welshman
Guest
I'm not prepared to make any more comments on the roar as my quite legitimate comments get removed by the moderator. The site does not represent a balanced opinion or allow proper debate. I'm out of here
Matthew H
Guest
As a childhood asthma sufferer who was hospitalised on multiple occasions I can say that to the best of my memory I never received an injection as part of acute treatment or ongoing management. By the time I was an adult I no longer suffered from asthma which I believe is most common. I personally think this stinks, and Anindya you are so right to refer to Mr Wiggins book. I remember reading the first Armstrong book in which he professes undying devotion to his family only to see him run off with Sheryl Crow. At that point I suspected Armstrong of being a liar and lo and behold... Wiggins now sitting very close to that seat on the bus, TUE or not. I sort of feel that if you are sick you shouldn't compete, not get medicine to allow you to. I admit to being very strong in my beliefs on the role of medical treatment however, so may be at one end of the spectrum.
Minz
Guest
It actually has a higher risk of causing harm. Steroids are nasty things; the responsible clinician uses the smallest dose possible for the shortest possible time.
Welshman
Guest
so would you be prepared to see Australia stripped of the Rio 4000m pursuit as they fielded an athlete on a TUE against GB who had no TUEs on their pursuit team.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Anyone with TUE should not be allowed to have this kind of treatment, which can potentially enhance performance, so close to major championships. That's precisely my point. I don't care where they are from. And indeed from which sport. The TUE rules must be changed and made more transparent. I also have a problem with the lack of transparency regarding Simone Biles and Serena Williams which have been revealed recently.
Welshman
Guest
You didn't answer the question - what do you think should happen to the Aussies with TUEs?
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Good one! But honestly I am not convinced Sir Bradley is not clean. But the rules clearly are not good enough as they stand.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Ok we finally have the Brits in the game! Bring it on! ?
Welshman
Guest
Exonerate - Why? No rules were broken. What will Australian Cycling do to exonerate Jack Bobridge for his TUEs?