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Tiernan-Locke: Wiggins drug use "looks suspicious"

Ex-Sky rider banned for bio passport irregularities queries use of TUEs

Ex-Team Sky cyclist Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, sacked after being handed a doping ban, has said that Sir Bradley Wiggins’ use of an anti-allergy medicine under Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) prior to major races “looks suspicious.”

Last month, the Fancy Bears hacking group published a TUE certificate issued to Wiggins that allowed him to be injected with the drug triamcinolone days before the 2012 Tour de France, which he won.

The group, believed to be based in Russia, also published certificates showing that Wiggins had been permitted similar injections of the otherwise banned substance in the run-up the previous year’s edition of that race and prior to the 2013 Giro d’Italia.

While there’s no question the TUEs were issued in accordance with anti-doping rules, and Wiggins and Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford both insist he took the drug for a genuine medical reason – his allergies to pollen and grass – questions have been raised about their timing.

Tiernan-Locke told BBC sports editor Dan Roan that the issue of Wiggins’ TUEs "definitely looks odd."

He went on: "I don't want to insinuate anything, but the timing doesn't look great. You assume if you had a need for such a thing it would be consistent throughout his career, that you'd use it year in year out, so from that point of view it looks suspicious.

"But from the other perspective, we've got a guy who's favourite for the general classification in these big races, so for a team like Sky who are so thorough, they don't want to leave anything to chance so why risk these allergies derailing their best-laid plans, so I understand it."

The Devon rider, aged 31, was sacked by Team Sky in 2014 after he received a two-year ban for biological passport irregularities.

He was also stripped of the 2011 Tour of Britain overall win that led to his being signed by the British WorldTour outfit.

In the week after that victory in the colours of Endura Racing, Tiernan-Locke signed for Team Sky.

He was also named Great Britain’s protected rider for the following weekend’s world championship road race, where he finished 19th, with Wiggins among those riding in support of him.

Lacklustre performances in his debut season at Team Sky were attributed to the rigours of stepping up to training and racing at WorldTour level.

But in September 2013, he was provisionally suspended by the UCI due to suspicious blood passport values relating to the period between his Tour of Britain win and the world championship road race.

Tiernan-Locke insisted that those were due to his being dehydrated after going on a drinking binge in Bristol with his girlfriend to celebrate signing for Team Sky.

In July 2014 he was handed a partially backdated two-year ban, although he continues to insist he was always clean.

The only time Wiggins and Tiernan-Locke raced together at Team Sky was during the Mallorca Cycling Week in February 2013, a series of one-day races typically used by pros to get back into racing after the winter lay-off.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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17 comments

Avatar
Griff500 | 7 years ago
0 likes

Got no time for people who stir up $hit without a shred of evidence of wrongdoing. If he has something to say, then fine, let him say it, but he hasn't. All he is doing is trying to discredit a guy who is twice the cyclist that he himself is. 

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Jimmy Ray Will | 7 years ago
2 likes

I'd love to know if you'd all say this stuff to JTL's face if you had the chance... 

Personally speaking, there are enough questions over his conviction that I'm going to leave the pitch fork in the shed just for now. 

Now, he may be as guilty as sin, but his suspension was done on the back of a single irregular blood result, which is not normal protocol... normally its three adverse tests I believe...

as i understand it, he did take a further test 48 hours later which was in line with all previous and subsequent blood tests collected. However, due to this test being undertaken by BC or SKY (can't remember which) and not a doping authority it was not admissable evidence. 

Thats enough for me to believe that its not as clear cut as you all seem to believe it is. 

Assuming the second test was accurate (clearly it was good enough for either BC or SKY), then eitehr JTL is the greatest blood doper ever, or somethings not quite right.

He still couldn't provide a decent reason for the adverse result, so yeah, he pays the price, but honestly I can't see the need for the character assassination.

 

 

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jollygoodvelo | 7 years ago
0 likes

"Doper says..."

 

Oh.

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handlebarcam | 7 years ago
3 likes

So, the BBC have interviewed Michael Rasmussen and now Jonathan Tiernan-Locke about Bradley Wiggins. Who next? Riccardo Riccò? That American female pro who took so much testosterone she looked like Geoff Capes? Tony Montana from Scarface? I'm no fan of Wiggins, but this is just a continuation of the BBC Sport website's piss-weak coverage of cycling. They'll get anyone in, doesn't matter who, so they end up with people whose own toxic brand name can only be improved by association with Bradley's dodgy-but-legal activities. I'm shocked they haven't had Lance Armstrong on the phone yet.

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rjfrussell | 7 years ago
9 likes

Interesting comments!

There is no suggestion from anywhere that what Wiggins did was illegal.

The issue is, was he. lawfully, but "immorally" or "unethically" gaming the system.

JTL makes two observations which to me seem, really, uncontentious.

ONE-  you have, in your career, 3 intramuscular steroidal injections.  And all three are immediarly before your crack at a Grand Tour.  That "looks suspicious".  Seriously, how can you argue with that?

Then, providing a counter view, he says

TWO-  but of course, therein lies the possible explanation.  You know you suffer from hayfever, so of course, when you think you are in with crack of winning a Grand Tour, of course you mainline everything you lawfully can to make sure your illness, which you are allowed to treat, doesn't mess up your chances. 

Anyone with two brain cells to rub together has presumably already had both thoughts.  Certainly, both views were expressed on our village ride at the weekend.

ALong with the observation that it might help if you actually read your ghost written money spinning autobiography before it goes to the shops.  One advantage Millar certainly has is being able to write for himself.

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Leviathan | 7 years ago
0 likes

JTL doper or alcoholic?

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Nick T replied to Leviathan | 7 years ago
5 likes

Leviathan wrote:

JTL doper or alcoholic?

 

option 3: twat

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jova54 | 7 years ago
4 likes

The distinctive sound of the BBC scraping the bottom of the barrel.

They probably didn't know who the hell Tiernan-Locke was and the interview added precisely nothing to the discussion.

If he has any proof he should give it to WADA or UCI. As he clearly doesn't he should crawl back under his stone.

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HalfWheeler | 7 years ago
3 likes

Where did he crawl out from?

When I saw the headine initially I thought "this could be intersting". Then I read the name. Priceless. I think the Yiddish word is 'chutzpah'.

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stenmeister replied to HalfWheeler | 7 years ago
0 likes

HalfWheeler wrote:

I think the Yiddish word is 'chutzpah'.

Or meshuganah - crazy person

 

 

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Jackson | 7 years ago
2 likes

British cycling community: We need ex-dopers like Tiernan-Locke and David Millar to have a voice to prevent past doping mistakes being repeated in our system.

David Millar, Jon Tiernan-Locke: What Wiggins was doing looks like doping to us.

British cycling community: *shouting*

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tonyleatham replied to Jackson | 7 years ago
6 likes

Jackson wrote:

British cycling community: We need ex-dopers like Tiernan-Locke and David Millar to have a voice to prevent past doping mistakes being repeated in our system.

David Millar, Jon Tiernan-Locke: What Wiggins was doing looks like doping to us.

British cycling community: *shouting*

To the best of my knowledge, JTL never admitted doping and still maintains to this day that he's innocent (he blamed it on a vodka bender).  On that basis, I'm 100% sure we don't need input from him on this or any other subject.

He's very different to David Millar, who whilst being an admitted doper, has convinced me that he is reformed - and I firmly believe that everyone has a right to redemption. His input is usually informative and considered

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kcr replied to tonyleatham | 7 years ago
0 likes
tonyleatham wrote:

Jackson wrote:

British cycling community: We need ex-dopers like Tiernan-Locke and David Millar to have a voice to prevent past doping mistakes being repeated in our system.

David Millar, Jon Tiernan-Locke: What Wiggins was doing looks like doping to us.

British cycling community: *shouting*

To the best of my knowledge, JTL never admitted doping and still maintains to this day that he's innocent (he blamed it on a vodka bender).  On that basis, I'm 100% sure we don't need input from him on this or any other subject.

He's very different to David Millar, who whilst being an admitted doper, has convinced me that he is reformed - and I firmly believe that everyone has a right to redemption. His input is usually informative and considered

http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/red-faces-at-british-cycling-as-...
He really thought that through carefully, didn't he?

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NoMapNoCompass | 7 years ago
5 likes

davel - didn't people say the same about Floyd? Note that Michael Barry also indicated that Tramadol was abused at Sky. This is hardly a surprise that the same was done at British Cycling on a team made up completely of Sky riders.

The Team Sky spin and PR is unravelling before our eyes 

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davel replied to NoMapNoCompass | 7 years ago
0 likes

NoMapNoCompass wrote:

davel - didn't people say the same about Floyd? Note that Michael Barry also indicated that Tramadol was abused at Sky. This is hardly a surprise that the same was done at British Cycling on a team made up completely of Sky riders.

The Team Sky spin and PR is unravelling before our eyes 

It is possible to be extremely skeptical about Wiggo's use of TUEs AND think that JTL is a gobshite with zero credibility who only cares about JTL.

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me | 7 years ago
0 likes

ha, ha, ha, ha, pot, kettle, black

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davel | 7 years ago
11 likes

"I don't want to insinuate anything..." 

Why's this little creep still getting column inches?

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