Wiggins supports cycling amid Armstrong doping scandal

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Published time: October 12, 2012 11:02
Edited time: October 12, 2012 15:02

The reigning Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins says he is shocked at the scale of evidence produced by the US anti-doping agency, USADA, against Lance Armstrong, but believes cycling has now moved on from the dark days of doping.

USADA produced a 1000 page dossier detailing how Armstrong took banned substances to fuel his seven Tour De France victories with eleven of his former teammates coming forward to testify against him.

“It's pretty damning stuff. It is pretty jaw-dropping the amount of people who have testified against him. It is certainly not a one-sided hatchet job, it is pretty damning,” Wiggins said.

“I have been involved in pro-cycling for a long time and I realize what it takes to train and win the Tour de France. But I'm not surprised by it … I had a good idea what is going on,” he added.

Wiggins says it is now his responsibility as the current tour champion to defend the sport which he believes has cleaned itself up.

“The effect that it has on me as the current winner of the Tour de France is that obviously I've got to answer the questions, pick up the pieces, expected to be the voice of everyone else behind me, which I'm not happy about doing really but I understand why I have to do it,” he said before adding:

“A lot of this stuff happened nearly 15 years ago so the sport has changed considerably and we're a big part of changing the sport.”