David Millar felt ‘like a machine’ after taking the banned steroid Bradley Wiggins used
Drug cheat who is now an evangelist for clean sport reveals truth about the drug Olympic hero Wiggo was allowed to take
DRUG cheat David Millar has revealed how he abused the system to use the same banned steroid as Bradley Wiggins.
Former Team GB rider Millar, now an evangelist for clean sport, says he felt “like a machine“ after taking Triamcinolone.
The Scot was allowed to inject the drug by claiming a Therapeutic Use Exemption — TUE — even though on two occasions he had NO genuine medical reason to do so.
Wiggins, Team Sky and boss Dave Brailsford are under pressure to fully explain the circumstances of Wiggins having Triamcinolone jabs before three major events, including the 2012 Tour De France which he won.
Wiggo, who will return to action next week in the Six Day London event, broke no rules and denies any wrongdoing. He insists he needed the TUEs in order to treat flare-ups of asthma and allergies.
But team-mate Chris Froome and fellow Olympic legend Sir Chris Hoy are among those to express concern about the saga.
Millar admits he took Triamcinolone under the brand name Kenacort and did so twice with the sole intention of boosting performance in major races.
Writing in the New York Times, Millar said: “On one occasion, I received a TUE for a fake tendon issue.
“Kenacort was a once-a-year drug — the stress it put on your body required time to recover.
“You’d be mad to take it more often or in bigger doses. Although, sadly, there were enough madmen around at the time in pro cycling who surely did just that.
“The three times I took Kenacort were also the times I was the lightest I’d been in my career. Yet I didn’t lose power — often the penalty when a rider sheds weight.
“Physically, I looked like a machine, muscle fibres were visible and a road map of veins crisscrossed my entire body. I was taking this powerful, potentially dangerous drug as a performance enhancer.
“Yet I was doing so within the rules thanks to the TUE loophole.
“My doping, for that is what it was, could not be judged illegal as long as I fulfilled all the criteria demanded by the authorities.
“I was within the letter of the law, even though I was cheating it. I was in the grey zone.“
Millar, 39, who claims the mental side effects of Triamcinolone outweighed the physical benefits, was banned from cycling for two years in 2004 after being busted for taking illegal drugs, including EPO.
And he believes abuse of the TUE system is the “elephant in the room“ as the sport tries to move on from the darkest days of doping.
Millar added: “The World Anti- Doping Agency and the international governing body of cycling, the UCI, have failed in their oversight of the list of drugs available with a TUE and in their administration of the application process.
“My story illustrates only too well that none of us can be trusted always to do what is right. When the stakes are high, some will see it as sheer folly not to use every advantage available.
“Never mind if it’s unethical, as long as it’s not illegal.“
The UK Anti-Doping Agency is campaigning for Triamcinolone and other glucocorticoids to be banned out of competition — as well as in competition — but Wada has so far refused to act.
The UKAD has also asked Wada to add painkiller Tramadol to its list of prohibited substances.
British Cycling and Team Sky have denied claims from former riders they gave out Tramadol as a “legal“ performance enhancer.
Prentice Steffen, one of Wiggins’ former team doctors, said: “It became clear to me and other team doctors, that it was being abused and team managers were asking if it could be the reason we seemed to be having more crashes.
“There was no data but that was the speculation as it must slow reaction times.
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“There are three criteria for Wada to ban a drug: is it against the spirit of sport, does it enhance performance and are there health implications?
“I would say it is yes, probably and yes for Tramadol. So I’m mystified as to why Wada is still looking at it.”
Steffen also questioned why Team Sky has not signed up to a voluntary group of cycling teams called the Movement for Credible Cycling.
The MPCC is considering plans to bench riders who test positive for Tramadol for an agreed period of time, as they have for other substances.
Steffen said: “I don’t see how any team’s internal rules can go above and beyond the MPCC’s.
“They are total head-bangers for clean sport. It just doesn’t add up.”
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