Cycling has developed a reputation for the abuse of performance enhancing drugs. It’s a sad statement, but one that few will dispute. In recent decades high profile cases, investigations and court hearings have thrust the sport reluctantly into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Competitive road cycling tours have been the scene for the majority of these cases. In highly competitive, commercial and cut-throat racing circuits, where enormous physical demands are placed on riders, it is conceivable that some athletes would go down this path. Some are caught, some are not, but ultimately it’s the sport that loses
Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) Drugs
Until recently, the term TUEs had no more meaning than the abbreviation for the second day of the week. But following Russian hackings of the Wada database and the leaking of confidential athlete information, a raft of new information has come to light surrounding athletes using banned substances for therapeutic purposes. Two of cycling's biggest names, Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, were implicated in the leaked documents, which sent the sporting world into a spin in September. Ultimately, this means nothing, they are not drug cheats and they have not broken any rules. The aftertaste is slightly less pleasant though, and many have been left contemplating TUEs within elite level sport.
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’.
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’.
