British Cycling Statement

BRITISH CYCLING STATEMENT

Following the announcement from UK Anti-Doping that there will be no charges over the medical package delivered to Sir Bradley Wiggins, British Cycling released the following statement...
British Cycling chief executive officer Julie Harrington said: “I would like to thank Nicole Sapstead and her team at UKAD for the diligence and determination they have shown in investigating this matter. Their work on this, and throughout sport, is essential if we are to earn and retain the trust of athletes and fans.

“UKAD’s findings represent an organisation and culture that, despite delivering on the world stage, did not meet the high standards that British Cycling today holds itself to. We note that UKAD have referred information arising from their investigation to the General Medical Council and we offer them our wholehearted cooperation.

“British Cycling have implemented a number of significant changes to the management of our medical services to the Great Britain Cycling Team following a review instigated in March by chair Jonathan Browning, shortly after his appointment. This was an external review led by Dr Rod Jaques of the English Institute of Sport and all of his recommendations have been accepted by British Cycling. We welcome UKAD’s support for these changes.

“The association between British Cycling and Team Sky has been a positive force for cycling in this country. However we accept that the relationship between British Cycling and Team Sky developed rapidly and as a result, at times, resulted in the blurring of the boundaries between the two. This led to some failings in the way that processes and people were managed.

“Today, based on our learning together there are clear boundaries and distinctions between our two organisations: no one is simultaneously employed by British Cycling and Team Sky; and we each have our own practices in place for managing athlete records.

“My focus now is on ensuring that we can give athletes and the public the reassurance they need to believe in our ability to win clean on the biggest global stages because of the systems and controls we have put in place. We are intent on ensuring that the integrity of our record keeping is never called into question again.”