What is Fluimicil? Why is Team Sky talking to MPs about it and why is Sir Bradley Wiggins involved?
TEAM Sky has told a Government committee what was in a mystery bag delivered to Sir Bradley Wiggins during the 2011 Tour de France.
It has emerged the product brought to the British cyclist during the race was a medicine which can be bought over the counter to treat coughs.
What is Fluimicil?
Fluimicil is part of medicines called mucolytics.
It is used to treat airway disorders which tend to increase mucus production, such as bronchitis, emphysema, mucoviscidosis and bronchiectasis.
It can be taken as an effervescent tablet or in a nebuliser - a devise that allows you to breath in medication.
Why it is being talked about by Team Sky?
Wiggins received a delivery of a mystery jiffy bag at the Criterium du Dauphine race in the Tour de France in 2011.
Rumours that it contains a banned drug rocked the British cyclist's reputation as there was suggestions the product was not simply for a cough.
However, it has now emerged it was a decongestant that can be bought over the counter.
Team Sky's chief Dave Brailsford told MPs at a Culture, Media and Sport Committee that the contents of the package was Fluimicil.
The drug apparently costs about eight Euros in France – with more questions raised as to why Sky’s doctor, Richard Freeman, could not buy the product there.
Instead it was taken on a plane by British Cycling staff member Simon Cope to the Alpine climb of La Toussuire in France.
Why was it controversial?
Fluimicil is on the World Anti-Doping Authority list of permitted drugs to treat coughs and colds.
However, before the contents of the package was revealed, there was confusion over why a mystery jiffy bag had been brought to Wiggins all the way from Manchester.
Brailsford was asked by MPs why if the product is available in France, it was brought from the UK.
He told MP's that is is "not unusual for stuff to be flown around".
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