Former Team Sky rider admits to vitamin injections, Tramadol use
British rider Josh Edmondson has told the BBC that he violated cycling's rules when he secretly injected himself with a melange of vitamins and took the controversial painkiller Tramadol while riding for Team Sky.
Edmondson's admission comes at a trying time for British cycling and its most renowned professional outfit, Team Sky, and while the cocktail of vitamins is legal, injection by syringe was banned in 2011.
A mystery package delivered to ex-Team Sky and 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins has recently put team boss Sir David Brailsford in the spotlight, with the former British Cycling performance director insisting that he won't step down.
Team Sky talisman and three-time TdF winner Chris Froome came to Brailsford's side, saying, "Without Dave B, there is no Team Sky," though Edmondson's admission Thursday is sure to increase the pressure on the boss.
With painkiller Tramadol the drug in question, and Brailsford maintaining that Wiggins' package contained legal decongestant Fluimucil, Edmondson told the BBC that he took Tramadol while with Team Sky in 2013-14.
Edmondson conceded to a breach of the Union Cycliste Internationale's (UCI) "no-needle" policy every two or three weeks, with the 24-year-old telling BBC that he travelled to Italy from Team Sky's base in Nice, France, to independently purchase the opioid. He added that the use of Tramadol - which he took in hopes of cracking Team Sky's Grand Tour squad - led to depression.
"In 2014 I was under a lot of pressure, not just from the team but from myself," Edmondson said, conceding that his desire to be a prominent member of Britain's biggest team was all the motivation he needed.
"You want to renew your contract for one thing, and for me the bigger thing was not letting anyone down - this team had given me a chance by signing me and a bigger chance by letting me go to a Grand Tour (the Vuelta a Espana)."
Edmondson admitted that he had been caught out by the team for the injection of vitamins during the Tour of Poland, with Team Sky's then-head of medicine, Dr. Steve Peters, adding that the incident wasn't reported to the governing body of cycling because Edmondson denied using the equipment.
"We had a lot of debate and discussion. It wasn't just something we decided that we won't bother saying anything. That did not happen. It was a lot of agonising," Peters said.
While admitting to the injection of mixed vitamins and the use of Tramadol, Edmondson denies the usage of performing-enhancing drugs.
"But this was my way of closing the gap a little without doping. Some people think there is a grey area, and that's why there is a no-needle policy, but people across sport have been injecting vitamins for years and it is an alternative to doping."