Greg Henderson, director of US cycling Association has spoken out concerning the use of therapeutic drugs during competition.
By the rules of cycling, the cyclist is allowed to be on prohibited corticosteroid medications if their health problems will not allow them to perform optimally.
However, athletes intending to use the drug is expected to have obtained a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUEs) to avoid disqualification.
Greg is concerned about how his former team may have operated outside the boundaries of the cycling therapeutic Use exemption ethics. He believes, while this may be within the confine of the rules of the game, many are abusing it.
“This is just my personal opinion, the corticosteroid we are talking about is a powerful performance-enhancing drug which is prohibited by cycling regulations. Although it may be allowed under certain medical circumstances if the cyclist has obtained the TUEs before the game. But personally, I think if a player is so sick that he’ll need a corticosteroid then he should at least not be taking part in the event at all.”
One of his former teammate, Wiggins, had a corticosteroid in his system during the 2011 and 2012 Tours de France. But shortly before the game, he had obtained a TUEs. While Greg Henderson agrees with the doctor that the drug is needed to treat Wiggins allergies, he questioned if the drug has brought him up to the level of playing or above it. By law, this is allowed, but the debate still stands.
Henderson commented on the strong anti-doping policy. He remarked that he went to the team because they believed in racing hard and racing clean.
He recalled how many other team members abused the TUEs while he was biking for Sky team “having a sore knee during a game is something that we have no control over and that’s why the rules allow for the use of this potent medication. When a team member has a sore knee, he’s allowed to be on the drug with an eight-day off, and then he can come back.
Many times when we’re biking, we’ve got a few members of the other teams who’d run off for sore knee only to appear eight days later and tear your knees off with better performance.”
Now after leaving the team, it seems everything is turning upside down especially with the recent issues of Wiggins which he believed had tarnished the team’s image.
Though a bit concerned why Chris Froome, who has been tested positive for higher levels of salbutamol – a prohibited substance, more than any cyclist has not been ban while others had been banned.
He expressed that if Skyteam should fold up, it wouldn’t be just 27 bikers being laid off and looking for a new job but also 50-60 staffs being laid off and starting all over again.