Tom Dumoulin, the Olympic time trial Silver Medalist, "has become the first high-profile rider to openly question" Bradley Wiggins’s therapeutic use exemptions for the "powerful corticosteroid triamcinolone prior to three of the biggest races in his career," saying of the matter, "it stinks," according to Tom Cary of the London TELEGRAPH. Dumoulin’s criticism comes just as Wiggins spoke about "the growing furore" for the first time Sunday on The Andrew Marr Show. Wiggins said that he "really struggled" with asthma in his career, including before the Tour de France in '12, which he went on to win. He added that his TUEs were "not about trying to gain an unfair advantage" so much as to put himself "back on a level playing field." His appearance on Marr’s show "is unlikely to placate" either his or Team Sky’s skeptics, however. Marr did not "push Wiggins on the alleged performance-enhancing qualities of triamcinolone," on Team Sky’s ethics, the presence on the team at that time of the now-banned Belgian doctor Geert Leinders, or the fact that Wiggins "only appeared to need this drug" in '11, '12 and '13 rather than "for any other race in his career." Dumoulin, who finished third behind Wiggins when the Briton won the '14 world time trial title, "broke ranks in devastating fashion on Saturday." He said, "This is not something they do with normal asthmatics, let alone athletes who only have exercise-induced asthma. Apparently Wiggins’s injection also worked for weeks -- then in my opinion you should be out of competition for weeks. That thing stinks" (TELEGRAPH, 9/25).
WIGGINS SPEAKS OUT: REUTERS' Nick Mulvenney reported Wiggins's former doctor at the Garmin Slipstream team, Prentice Steffen, said that he was "surprised" the cyclist had needed triamcinolone, which convicted dopers David Millar and Michael Rasmussen said was a "highly potent drug." The 36-year-old five-time Olympic champion said that he had been "struggling with his breathing" before the 2012 Tour de France and decided to take triamcinolone on medical advice. He said, "It was prescribed for allergies and respiratory problems." A fifth batch of documents relating to more than 40 athletes was published by cyber hackers on Friday (REUTERS, 9/25).