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UK Anti-Doping agency probes alleged wrongdoing in cycling

Jonathan Tiernan-Locke claims Great Britain team 'freely' offered painkiller

On Friday, UK Anti-Doping said it is examining an "allegation of wrongdoing within cycling".

Former Team Sky rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke has questioned why his former team allowed Bradley Wiggins to take a banned drug to treat his asthma.

The article today explains that a staff member flew with a medical package from Great Britain to Geneva and drove from Geneva to La Toussuire on June 12, 2011, the day Wiggins won the Critérium du Dauphiné.

We informed British Cycling of the allegation and asked them to contact UKAD, who we will continue to liaise with. "To protect the integrity of the investigation we will not comment further".

British Cycling confirmed to the Daily Mail that existence of such a "medical package" and that it was delivered to a Team Sky rider, but did not reveal the rider's name or what was in the package.

British Cycling has confirmed that a medication was delivered to a team member but says that it was not triamcinolone.

Team Sky are in communication with British Cycling, the national governing body, and UKAD.

2012 Tour de France victor Wiggins has been under fire for almost a month after Russian hacker group Fancy Bears released his and others' TUE data.

Dutch time trialler Tom Dumoulin claimed his use of Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) "stinks" while Prentice Steffen, the doctor at Garmin Slipstream who Wiggins competed for before he joined Team Sky, claimed it "doesn't look good".

Wiggins and Team Sky have strenuously denied any wrongdoing since it emerged the 2012 Tour de France victor has received six TUEs during his career, insisting each time the exemptions were medically necessary due to asthma and pollen allergies.

Wiggins' cases have caused particular concern because his three approvals for triamcinolone acetonide coincided with the Tour de France in 2011 and 2012 and the Giro d'Italia in 2013 - his biggest races of all three seasons.

"Our position on anti-doping is well known and we 100 per cent stand by that".

Wiggins, who in 2012 became the first man to win the Tour and Olympic gold in the same year, said he had not previously made his TUE record public because he did not want to be seen to be making excuses.

Tiernan-Locke told the BBC: "We were offered a painkiller called Tramadol".

He added: 'It's at odds with the no-needle policy and the transparency they were pushing for'. There is no suggestion any rider took up the offer without a need.

Tiernan-Locke was the leading British finisher at the race in Limburg, Holland, placing 19th.

Tiernan-Locke was sacked by Team Sky in 2014 and served a two-year ban for an anti-doping infringement, which expired early this year.

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UK Anti-Doping agency probes alleged wrongdoing in cycling