British cyclist Josh Edmondson has told the BBC he broke the sport’s rules by secretly injecting himself with a cocktail of vitamins when riding for Team Sky.
The 24-year-old, who was on the team’s books in 2013 and 2014, also said he had severe depression after independently using the controversial painkiller Tramadol.
Edmondson said the pressure of his selection for a major race in 2014 led to him breaching the UCI’s ‘no-needle’ policy “two or three times a week” for about a month.
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Team Sky say legal vitamins and a needle were found in Edmondson’s room, but they did not report the incident because he denied using them, and over concerns he “could be pushed over the edge”.
Edmondson says he confessed to Team Sky at the time but there was “a cover-up” by senior management.
Team Sky are renowned for their robust, no-needle, no-Tramadol stance.
In a wide-ranging and emotional interview, Edmondson told the BBC:
He travelled to Italy from his training base in Nice to purchase a variety of legal vitamins and intravenous equipment.
He risked giving himself a heart attack by self-administering the medication secretly at night.
He independently took powerful opioid Tramadol during the 2013 Tour of
Britain. Team Sky say this was given to him without their knowledge by the race doctor, rather than their own team doctor.
He didn’t leave his house for two months because of severe depression partly caused by using Tramadol.
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