Wiggins says he did not seek 'unfair advantage'

The former Tour de France champion and multiple Olympic cycling medalist has been under major scrutiny since the Fancy Bears leak of the medical records of some of the world's top athletes.

The data revealed the Briton was given permission to take triamcinolone before the 2011 and 2012 Tours as well as the 2013 Tour of Italy.

The 36-year-old Wiggins has been adamant he has done nothing wrong and Brailsford, his Team Sky boss, backed his star rider emphatically on Monday.

Wiggins spoke out on the BBC over the weekend, explaining that he has been a life-long sufferer of asthma, and the medication was recommended by a Hargreaves.

Kent University's Dr. John Dickinson, who has worked with more than 1,000 athletes with breathing problems, said he had never prescribed triamcinolone to an athlete.

On Sunday, Britain's most decorated Olympian gave an interview to the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, in which he claimed that he was not attempting to gain an "unfair advantage" and that the his use of the drug was created to "put himself back on a level playing field".

"This was to cure a medical condition".

Wiggins' TUEs applications are believed to have been made by the then team doctor Dr Richard Freeman, who is now team doctor at British Cycling. And he in turn said: "'Yeah, there's something you can do but you're going to need authorisation from cycling's governing body (UCI)'".

"You do have to think it is kind of coincidental that a big dose of intramuscular long-acting corticosteroids would be needed at that exact time before the most important race of the season".

In his first public comments since details of his medical history were leaked by Russian hackers, Sir Bradley said the drug was injected to treat asthma and "put himself back on a level playing field".

Sir Bradley told Marr that he struggled with breathing problems in the build up to the 2012 Tour De France and he sought out the prescription in order to relieve the symptoms.

But last night Prentice Steffen, the doctor at Wiggins's former team Garmin Slipstream in 2009 when the Brit had his breakthrough in road racing and finished a surprise fourth in the Tour de France, said he was "surprised" he was prescribed the drug.

"It was not being used to enhance performance", the general manager told the BBC, adding that Team Sky "do not cross the line" when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs.

The five-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France victor told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show he had been "a life-long sufferer of asthma". Given the integrity of the process - there was a doctor and authorities who approved this - I didn't see any need to question this.

'I would say certainly now, in retrospect, it doesn't look good'.

"Especially for the guys that are winning and competing and performing at the Tour de France".

"This sport had a hard time in the past and the whole reason for creating the team was so that young guys leaving (Manchester's National Cycling Centre) could go and you'd know they would never be pressurised to cheat". Wiggins drew a distinction between using the drug to cheat and for legitimate medical reasons.

"It is the very essence of why we created this team", he said.

"Team Sky's approach to anti-doping and our commitment to clean competition are well known".