Doping in sport inquiry: Simon Cope invited to give evidence

Sir Dave Brailsford was questioned by the DCMS panel in December 2016

The British Cycling coach who couriered a 'mystery' package for Sir Bradley Wiggins has been invited by MPs to give evidence at a doping inquiry.

Simon Cope delivered the package on the last day of the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine, which Wiggins went on to win.

The Culture, Media and Sport select committee has been by told by Team Sky chief Sir Dave Brailsford the package contained a legal decongestant.

But MPs say they are "concerned" by some of the evidence they have heard.

The doctor who received the package on behalf of Wiggins' Team Sky, Dr Richard Freeman, and head of UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) Nicole Sapstead have also been invited to give evidence on 22 February.

Culture, Media and Sport select committee chairman Damian Collins MP said: "There is a considerable public interest in Ukad's investigation and it is also important to our inquiry into doping in sport to understand what they have been able to determine from their investigation.

"The committee has been told by both British Cycling and Team Sky that they have supplied all the information they have relating to this investigation to Ukad.

"However, we need to know if they have received documentary evidence which confirms what was in the package that was delivered by Simon Cope to Team Sky.

"Without this evidence, I am concerned about how it is possible for the anti-doping rules to be policed in an appropriate manner, if it is not possible to review the records of medicines prescribed to riders by the team doctors."

Team Sky have been under pressure to reveal the contents of the package following a Daily Mail allegation in October 2016.

Cope, who was a women's coach for British Cycling, travelled from Manchester to Geneva on 12 June 2011 to hand a parcel to the Team Sky doctor Freeman on the final day of the Criterium. Cope claimed he did not know what it contained.

In an interview with Cycling News, he said: "It was just an envelope, a Jiffy bag, a small Jiffy bag," he said. "As far as I know I could have been pedals in there."

Brailsford gave evidence in December and stated the package contained Fluimucil, which is legal in sport and "administered on a regular basis".