The prominent anti-doping campaigner David Millar has said the in-competition use of triamcinolone, the drug used by Bradley Wiggins before Tour de France and Giro d’Italia races between 2011 and 2013, should be outlawed. Millar, a former professional cyclist who was himself banned from the sport in 2004 after admitting to doping, also told the Daily Telegraph there should be a full public disclosure of therapeutic exemptions (TUEs), the details of which have been at the heart of the widely publicised Fancy Bears website leaks in recent days.
Millar argued that Kenacort, a trade name for triamcinolone, was the most potent drug he took and described it as performance-enhancing. “As I said in my book [Racing Through The Dark],” Millar explained, “I took EPO and testosterone patches, and they obviously produce huge differences in your blood and you felt at your top level … Kenacort, though, was the only one you took and three days later you looked different. It’s quite scary because it’s catabolic so it’s eating into you. It felt destructive. It felt powerful.”
He concluded: “We [athletes] shouldn’t have to face this. If it’s that strong we shouldn’t be allowed to take it unless there is a serious issue. And if we’re suffering from that serious an issue, we shouldn’t be racing. I don’t know how a doctor could prescribe it [before a race]. I can’t fathom it.”
Wiggins’s use of triamcinolone was revealed when the Fancy Bears hackers published medical data stored by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on their site last week.
Following the leaks Wiggins, the 2012 Tour de France winner and five-times Olympic champion, was forced to clarify comments made in his 2012 autobiography that he strictly observed cycling’s “no needles” policy, despite having injections of triamcinolone before the 2011 and 2012 editions of the Tour de France, with a third coming shortly before the 2013 Giro d’Italia.
There is no suggestion Wiggins did anything to break anti-doping regulations and that before his use of triamcinolone his team applied to the race doctor of cycling’s governing body (UCI), who acted according to WADA guidelines in administering the drugs.