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M_V
I was diagnosed with sports induced asthma when I was 14, I played football to a decent standard through my teens and 20s and rarely had to use my inhaler. Only on very cold days/nights when I hadn't had time to warm up properly (coming off the bench for example).
Having got seriously into cycling in my early 30s my symptoms got far worse (coughing and wheezing after long/hard sessions). I now have four puffs of the blue one before every hard training session and every race, if I'm out for a long time or it's particularly cold I may need to use it again.
Given certain scenarios; significant drop in temperature and thinning air on a mountain stage along with a sudden hard effort I'm surprised more pros don't need to use an inhaler at that point, I reckon I would.
Also respiratory illnesses are a bugger when your asthma is playing up. I've had three chest infections of various degrees this winter (mainly due to a toddler in nursery, rarely had them before). Start with a cold and go straight to your chest. Two bouts of asthma steroids this winter just to keep me breathing properly. If I were a pro I can imagine I would have had to smash through the TUEs just to keep training properly, let alone race.