Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) Drugs
Wiggins had injections for allergies prior to the 2011 and 2012 Tour de France and the Giro de Italia in 2013. In 2008 he took salbutamol, medication that opens up airways in the lungs and is used to treat asthma. Froom has taken drugs to combat autoimmune conditions during a competition. All have been approved by the International Cycling Union. So, why the fuss?
It’s all a matter of perspective. Maria Sharapova was banned from tennis for using a substance that appears on Wada’s prohibited list, although it was not a TUE drug and something she had been using for years. The word ‘leak’ gives sensational appeal to information that would otherwise be fairly routine in nature. Wiggins and Froome's competitors, the sport's top administrators and team bosses all knew about the use of TUEs, but the public didn’t. And this is the source of the storm in a teacup that was the 2016 TUE ‘drug scandal’.