UK Anti-Doping agency probes alleged wrongdoing in cycling

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 1:20 p.m. ET

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LONDON (AP) Britain's anti-doping agency is investigating allegations of wrongdoing in cycling in response to a report about the activities of Team Sky and former Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins.

Britain's Daily Mail newspaper said U.K. Anti-Doping is investigating Wiggins and Team Sky over the contents of a medical package delivered to the team in France in June 2011. The report did not say what was in the package.

''We are investigating an allegation of wrongdoing in cycling,'' UKAD said Friday. ''To protect the integrity of the investigation we will not comment further.''

Wiggins won the Dauphine Libere cycling race on the day the package was delivered in June 2011, according to the Mail. There was no immediate response from Team Sky or Wiggins, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013 after winning the Tour de France the previous year.

There has been scrutiny on Britain's eight-time Olympic medalist's medical treatment since his confidential medical information last month was in one of the leaks resulting from a cyberattack on the World Anti-Doping Agency database. Wiggins was given three injections of an anti-inflammatory drug between 2011 and 2013 after being granted a Therapeutic Use Exemption, which allows athletes to use otherwise-banned substances because of a verified medical need.

Wiggins has defended his need for a TUE, saying he wasn't attempting to gain an advantage.

Wiggins became the first British rider to win the Tour de France in 2012 as part of Team Sky. He took the anti-inflammatory drug on the eve of that Tour, the 2011 Tour which took place after the Dauphine Libere race, and also before the 2013 Giro d'Italia. Wiggins' treatment was approved by cycling authorities and there has been no suggestion any rules have been broken over the TUEs.