Doping

The "loopholes" were supposed to be for rider's health. Blame team management for abusing them.

I think there's barely any difference morally between protein powders and banned substances (EPO and the like).

I knew I shouldn't have ordered the double patty burger. That's me fucked then. Call UKAD.

https://www.wada-ama.org/en/prohibited-list

Showbiz doesn't tend to kill off its rising stars with drug overdo... oh wait yeah it does. Nevermind.

No

What about Noel Edmonds? Do you think he might be behind it all?

I thought he'd cleaned up his act for Baik Off?

Domestic racing scene in Colombia is not very healthy.

I disagree: Wiggins hasn't cheated, he followed the rules and used the medecine he was allowed to to treat his allergies. Yet now we have David Millar dying inside and other people saying his win must now have an asterisk next to it.

Yet he followed the rules.

I think the authorities need to close these loopholes to prevent these grey areas where we the audience are in limbo effectively. Now it's entirely in the court of public opinion whether he is a cheat or not, and that largely is in the cheat camp.

Blame team management

Any moderately intelligent person (which clearly excludes Wiggins) should know that the same strict liability which applies to doping also applies to pushing the envelope. The athlete always has the option to push back against management pressure to do morally dubious things.

Allergies that his teammates weren't aware of and he had never mentioned before. Come on now, cortisone doping is old school and fully understood. Just because they made up an excuse to administer said doping under TUE rules doesn't mean it isn't cheating.

Do you discuss all your medical ailments with your colleagues?

So, no TUEs then? If you need to take something on a banned list for health reasons you can't race, even if the ailment doesn't stop you racing? Riders aren't going to appreciate that. It's their income on the line.

"I was just following orders"

We don't know if there was pressure applied by the team to use it but they certainly played a part so where were their morals, ethics, customer relations vision, whatever, when they thought this was a good idea?

Asthma and varicose veins? Yes (well they can see the latter in summer time when I turn up to work with my legs out).

When I've been part of a team have I and teammates discussed injuries/ailments that may have an impact on performance? Absolutely.

I'm not sure how much evidence you really need; Wiggins physique, his autobiography comments, the package, the doctor with no records on a fastidious team, the doctor who had his laptop stolen, the doctor who was too ill to testify, Braislford's exposed lies, Sutton's comments etc etc.

It's getting a bit like defending Lance in his latter years now isn't it?

No, it really isn’t it. Armstrong was breaking the rules by blood doping, Wiggins followed the rules and got medication approved by the UCI to treat a condition. There was no infraction of the rules.

If you can’t see the difference there then what’s the fucking point discussing this?

Isn't your argument here a little contradictory.
If the ailment doesn't stop you racing why do you need a TUE?

Really?

You can have an infection in say your arm that requires medication. The medication is on the banned list but it'd really sort out your arm problem. The arm issue doens't stop you racing.

Or TUEs for legit asthma or any number of reasons.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sailing/2016/09/16/i-am-not-ashamed-of-getting-an-therapeutic-use-exemption-but-the/

where were their morals

Businesses don't have morals, they have fiduciary duties. They made more money by having Wiggins perform better, and they don't care about his long term reputation unless it comes back to bite them on the arse in financial terms later. It looks like that might be happening to some extent, but probably not enough to make it a bad business decision.

The question then is why is it on the banned list.

Businesses can operate ethically. If Sky chose not to then it is their fault.

was it Baxter whose inhaler cost him his medal...

To control usage of a possible performance enhancing substance.

Requested and administered by a medical professional within the WADA guidelines to deal with a medical issue vs. someone nailing a heap of said substance before a race to gain an advantage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Baxter#Urine_tests

"He had been unaware that the contents were different from those found in the UK version"

So presumably he didn't have a TUE or he didn't have a TUE for the version with the banned shit in it. Different situation.

Because two Dr's always have the same opinion?
I just think they are going to have to come up with some serious reform to gain the publics trust