Bradley Wiggins has insisted he didn’t cheat despite admitting use of a banned powerful steroid before a race

BRADLEY WIGGINS has defended his use of a banned powerful steroid, insisting he did not cheat.

The cycling star claimed he had used triamcinolone acetonide because he was struggling with his breathing in the run up to his Tour de France victory.

Wiggo has been under mounting pressure since Russian hackers accessed his medical records at the World Anti-Doping Agency and revealed the treatment for a pollen allergy which the cyclist claimed was exacerbating his asthma.

He received three jabs shortly before grand tour races including his 2012 Tour de France win.

There is no suggestion of wrong doing as Wiggins was given permission through the Therapeutic Use Exemption system because of his medical condition.

But he had denied ever using needles, notably in his autobiography My Time, which has no mention of asthma or allergies and referring to that year states he was: “only ill once or twice with minor colds.”

Speaking publicly for the first time since the medical data was leaked, Wiggins insisted: “It was prescribed for allergies and respiratory problems.

“This was to cure a medical condition.

“This wasn’t about trying to find a way to gain an unfair advantage, this was about putting myself back on a level playing field in order to compete at the highest level.”

Interviewed for today’s Andrew Marr Show, Wiggins said: “I really struggled in that period. June-July is the worst period.

“Team Sky, the medical team there, everyone — there are coaches checking everything’s OK.

“They said ‘Bradley you’re on track here, you’re the favourite to win this race, now we need to make sure the next three weeks is — is there anything we can help with at the moment?’

“I told them ‘I’m still struggling with this breathing — is there anything you can do just to make sure this doesn’t become an issue?’

“And in turn I took that medical advice (to take Triamcinolone).

“I’ve been a lifelong sufferer of asthma and I went to my team doctor at the time and we went in turn to a specialist.

“And he in turn said, ‘Yeah, there’s something you can do but you’re going to need authorisation from cycling’s governing body’.”

Wiggins added: “Even with the needle comments I made in 2012 at the height of Lance Armstrong, it was always to a loaded question with regards to doping.

“Intravenous injections of iron, EPO etc . . . no one ever asked, have you ever had an injection by a medical professional to treat or cure a medical condition?”

Wiggins’ TUE applications are understood to have been made by the then Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman, now team doctor at British Cycling.