Brian Cookson: 'Team Sky may have pushed TUE rules to the limit'

UCI president Brian Cookson suggests Team Sky may have pushed the rules around Therapeutic Use Exemptions “to the very limit”, but insists everybody has abided by the rules in place.

The British team have been under fire in recent weeks after hackers released details of TUEs obtained by Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, as well as other cyclists from other teams.

Wiggins was prescribed a corticosteroid to help treat a severe pollen allergy, which was authorised by officials at the UCI, but the practice of obtaining TUEs by Sky has been brought into question.

“We shouldn’t be surprised when elite sports teams push to the very limit of the rules. Perhaps that’s what happened here, but the rules appear to have been abided by,” Cookson said at the Road World Championships in Doha.

The medication prescribed to Wiggins, triamcinolone, has been abused in the past by cyclists looking to shed weight in a short amount of time - according to David Millar and other former dopers - although there is no suggestion that Wiggins was using it in this way.

Cookson admitted that everything in the process of obtaining the TUE was above board, as far as the rules go, but questioned whether the medication in question should be prescribed.

“The issue of the substances issued to Wiggins appears to have been within the rules,” Cookson added. “But I think there is an argument to be had about whether TUEs for that kind of substance are valid.”