Shane Sutton: Sir Bradley Wiggins & former Team Sky doctor need to 'tell the truth'

Sir Bradley Wiggins and former Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman need to "come forward and tell the truth", says the team's ex-coach Shane Sutton.

An MPs' report says Team Sky "crossed an ethical line" by using drugs allowed under anti-doping rules to enhance performance instead of just for medical purposes.

Wiggins was named but told the BBC he is "100%" not a cheat.

"They need to explain it all to everybody," Sutton told Sky Sports.

• Watch the full Wiggins interview on iPlayer

• 'Should I take my Bradley Wiggins poster down?'

• Wiggins & Team Sky 'crossed ethical line' - report

The report by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee said Team Sky used the anti-inflammatory drug triamcinolone to prepare Britain's most decorated Olympian Wiggins and a smaller group of riders for the Tour de France, which he won in 2012.

Asthmatic Wiggins was granted therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) to take the corticosteroid triamcinolone, which can treat allergies and respiratory issues, shortly before the 2011 Tour de France, his 2012 Tour win and the 2013 Giro d'Italia.

But the report says he used it as many as nine times in four years, which Wiggins described as "completely malicious". He added he took it just once out of competition - which is legal - "after the 2013 Giro d'Italia, when I came out with a knee problem".

"I cannot say I know a lot about Brad's use of it in or out of competition," said Sutton, who was also a former technical director for British Cycling.

"I am told by the doctor he needs a TUE for this event etcetera etcetera. Outside of the event, you have to sit down and ask them.

"I call for the doctor and Brad to come forward and answer these questions, they are not for me.

"I am calling for him and the doctor to come forward and tell the truth.

"He is a sufferer, I have seen him suffer and gasping for breath after effort, I saw what he was going though, I cannot answer how often he used it. Only the doctor and him can tell us.

"They need to explain it all to everybody and everyone knows the word cheat needs to be taken out of the equation. The report says he did not cheat, so come forward and tell everyone what you administered, when, and let us put it to bed."

Sutton, who gave evidence to the committee last year, was also asked about a treatment administered to Wiggins on the team bus after winning the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine. Freeman and Wiggins say the cyclist was treated some hours later at a training camp - a point Freeman reiterated to Sky Sports following Sutton's interview.

However, Sutton said: "I understand he was treated on the bus, I thought it was public knowledge. This goes back to 12 months ago, when I was interviewed, that is the statement I made, that is what the doctor told me."

Sutton did, though, question the evidence of an anonymous "well-placed" source who told the committee that Team Sky used triamcinolone to prepare Wiggins and a smaller group of riders for the 2012 Tour.

"I totally refute that," Sutton said. "What you have to remember is that Brad and I worked in isolation, when the source says this happened. I would like to know when. I have no recollection of training with that group, when they were all together.

"I know what training camps I was on and for me that is a total lie from someone that has very much an axe to grind with Team Sky."

Team Sky 'very different' - Froome

Meanwhile, Team Sky's lead rider Chris Froome says the outfit are "very different" to what was said about them in the MPs' report

"I can only speak from my own experiences in the team," he told reporters before the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race in Italy, which starts on Wednesday.

"I've been there for eight years, since day one, when the team started. I certainly have a very different picture to what's been painted in the headlines."

When asked about the specific 2012 allegation from the anonymous source, he added: "No. That is absolute rubbish, I have seen that accusation, but no that is complete rubbish.

"I have never seen anything like that. It is not my experience within the team, that that is how the team operates."

There have been calls for Sir David Brailsford to resign from his role as Team Sky's principal following the report, but Froome backed the 54-year-old.

"Dave B has brought all those people together and we have got a fantastic group of people," Froome said.

"I am proud to be part of the team. I would not have stayed so long, I would not have been in the team, I would not still be in the team, if I did not believe in the team and the people around me."

Four-time Tour de France winner Froome finished 10th in February's Ruta del Sol race, his first since an adverse drugs test was made public.

Froome has to explain to cycling's world governing body, the UCI, how he returned double the allowed level of legal asthma drug Salbutamol in his urine during his Vuelta a Espana victory in September.

Christian Prudhomme, the race director of the Tour de France, has criticised the delay by the UCI in making a decision on Froome's case.

May's Giro d'Italia is the first of 2018's Grand Tours followed by the Tour in July and Vuelta a Espana which starts in August.

"In December I said we wanted a rapid response. Now, we can remove the word 'rapid'. We want a response [from the UCI]." the Frenchman told RMC Sport.

"The organisers need a response, not just for us at the Tour de France but for all the organisers, so that there isn't a rider they'll later say shouldn't have been at the start. It's completely grotesque."

'Wiggins should lose his Tour title'

Meanwhile, Floyd Landis says Wiggins should now be stripped of his 2012 Tour de France title.

American Landis, who lost the Tour de France title he won in 2006 after a positive test for testosterone, believes Wiggins should now be suspended and have his 2012 victory stricken from records.

Landis was a former team-mate of Lance Armstrong's and initially denied doping before becoming the chief whistleblower in a federal case against cycling's most recognised name.

"Wiggins should lose his Tour title," Landis told cyclingnews.

"I can't see how the sport authorities can let it slide. You can't take them seriously if they don't act.

"There's a report right there for them and for me WADA have no choice but to suspend him and take his title away. If they were legitimate, that's what they'd do."