Team Sky "confident" of no wrongdoing in Ukad report

Sir Dave Brailsford was questioned by the DCMS panel for almost an hour on Monday afternoon

Team Sky are "confident" no wrongdoing will be found when UK Anti-Doping produces a report into a mystery package given to Sir Bradley Wiggins.

Team boss Sir Dave Brailsford told the culture, media and sport committee on Monday the package contained an over-the-counter decongestant, Fluimucil.

Ukad launched the investigation following a Daily Mail allegation.

"We are continuing to co-operate fully with Ukad and we look forward to their report," a Team Sky statement said.

"As we have always said, we believe what is most important is for Ukad to establish the truth independently," the statement continued.

"We are confident that when they report it will be clear that there has been no wrongdoing."

• Brailsford: Package 'was decongestant'

• Wiggins: No unfair advantage from drug

• Brailsford: Team Sky 'do not cross the line'

• Ukad investigating cycling wrongdoing

Brailsford told MPs on Monday he had handled the situation "very badly".

Team Sky added: "During the committee session, Dave [Brailsford] acknowledged once again his own mistakes in handling the issue over recent months."

The package was delivered to Team Sky on the final day of the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine, which Wiggins won.

Fluimucil - used to clear mucus - is legal in sport and, according to Brailsford, is "administered on a regular basis".

Brailsford said he had been told by then-team doctor Richard Freeman that it was "for a nebuliser".

Analysis

BBC sports editor Dan Roan

Finally we have been told what was in the notorious 'mystery package' that Team Sky had delivered to Sir Bradley Wiggins in France in 2011 - or at least what Sir Dave Brailsford says he has been told was in it by the team's former doctor.

Documentary evidence proving it was indeed Fluimucil is now crucial, although for now the sport will be relieved to hear that the contents of the Jiffy bag was nothing more controversial than a mere decongestant.

But questions remain:

• Why has it taken so long for organisations that claim to be committed to transparency and accountability to get here?

• The Daily Mail now reports that Brailsford tried to persuade them not to run the Jiffy bag story. Why go to such efforts when it merely contained a decongestant?

• Will British Cycling or Team Sky now be able to provide a paper trail to back up the Fluimucil explanation?

• Why was British Cycling president Bob Howden still unable to say what was in the jiffy bag months after the story broke, only for Brailsford to then reveal it?

• Why were Brailsford's original explanations about the delivery not correct when all he had to do was ask former team medic Dr Richard Freeman?

• Why send for a routine, innocuous drug from over 1,000 kilometres away when it could have been easily sourced in France?

• Why did former coach Shane Sutton "authorise" the delivery of something, the details of which he claims not to be aware of? And why did Wiggins' long-term mentor not know what medication his star cyclist was taking?

• Why did Simon Cope, a former British Cycling coach who delivered the medical package, initially say it wasn't for Wiggins, when we now know it was? And will he now be asked to give evidence to MPs?

• And why was Wiggins taking a decongestant that apparently is not meant to be used by asthmatics (like him)?

Sadly for Team Sky and British Cycling, despite the belated attempt at clarity, for many critics the sense of suspicion will linger beyond today.

Much could now depend on the outcome of UK Anti-Doping's investigation, and whether Sky's corporate bosses feel the company's sponsorship of the team is still worth it, given the current climate of distrust and negative headlines.

Sadly for Team Sky and British Cycling, despite the belated attempt at clarity, for many critics the sense of suspicion will linger beyond today.

Brailsford's position appears safe for now, but much could depend on the outcome of UK Anti-Doping's investigation, and how Sky's corporate bosses feel about the current climate of distrust and constant negative headlines.