An independent review into medical practices at British Cycling is underway, as the governing body looks to correct the major flaws that have been exposed in recent months. Damian Collins MP, head of the parliamentary committee looking into doping in sport, said last month that the reputation of British Cycling and Team Sky was in tatters, after UK Anti-Doping´s chief executive Nicole Sapstead, who has been leading an investigation into `allegations of wrongdoing´ at the two organisations, painted a picture of an alarmingly lax approach to record keeping pertaining to medical products. At the heart of the controversy is the `mystery´ package couriered by a BC employee from the medical store at the national cycling centre to Team Sky in France, where the contents were used to treat Bradley Wiggins at the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine. It is claimed the package contained Fluimucil, a legal decongestant, but no one has been able to provide documentary evidence to substantiate the claim.ADVERTISEMENT `There is no audit trail of what is going in and out of a comprehensive supply of medical products,` commented Sapstead, indicating that it wasn´t an isolated event. She also described how there was a lack of segregation between what was being ordered for British Cycling and Team Sky athletes respectively, and revealed that unusually large orders of triamcinolone - the corticosteroid used controversially if not illegally by Wiggins - had been placed. UKAD´s investigation is still ongoing but British Cycling announced on Thursday that it has commissioned Dr Rod Jaques, director of medical services at the English Institute for Sport, to conduct an `independent review of its medical and physiotherapy teams´ operational practice and its alignment with the highest standards of UK professional conduct and procedures´. Jaques will carry out a series of interviews and an appraisal of the current practices and is expected to produce his report in June.
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