Sir Dave Brailsford should be 'checking his facts', insists Emma Pooley as pressure piles up on 'silly and careless' Team Sky chief
- UKAD are investigating Team Sky and Sir Bradley Wiggins over contents of a package delivered by Simon Cope after 2011 Dauphine Libere stage race
- Sir Dave Brailsford said that Cope was in France to see Emma Pooley, but she was actually racing in Spain
- Pooley says Brailsford's comments were 'at best silly and careless'
- EXCLUSIVE: Wiggins and Team Sky at centre of drugs probe amid allegation of wrongdoing ahead of 2011 Tour
The pressure intensified on Team Sky on Sunday night after Sir Dave Brailsford was challenged to explain why he said a cycling official had travelled to France to meet a leading female rider when he was in fact delivering a mystery medical package to the Sir Bradley Wiggins-led British road team.
Emma Pooley, the Olympic silver medallist, is understandably unhappy that she has been dragged into the controversy by the Team Sky chief.
Brailsford told Sportsmail that Simon Cope — a former British Cycling coach and current boss of Wiggins's own cycling team — did not travel to France on June 12, 2011 with a medical package ordered by the Team Sky doctor but to meet with Pooley.
Sir Dave Brailsford (left) sits alongside Sir Bradley Wiggins in the Team Sky bus in 2013
Emma Pooley, pictured in 2014, says Brailsford needs to 'check his facts' and was 'careless'
Sportsmail then informed Brailsford that Pooley was in fact racing 687 miles away in Spain on that day.
Pooley confirmed as much to Sportsmail last week but on Sunday she spoke to Cycling News, stating that what Brailsford said 'looks bad' and is 'at best silly and careless'.
Pooley said her phone had been inundated with messages and calls since the publication of the original Sportsmail story late last Thursday.
'The only thing I know is where I was on June 12 and I absolutely was not meeting anyone from British Cycling, anywhere,' she said. 'Certainly not Simon Cope at La Toussuire.
'I was at a stage race in Spain losing the yellow jersey on a descent in the rain. I can distinctly remember it because it was a bit of a disaster.
'I looked up my old training diary to see if I'd forgotten or anything and I've still got the flight numbers from how I got home. I would have got home at around midnight and I certainly didn't go to France.'
Brailsford is pictured during the final stage of the Tour of Britain in London in 2013
Wiggins has tape placed on his back by Shane Sutton during the 2012 Tour de France
Brailsford and Team Sky have not yet clarified why a meeting with Pooley was even given as an explanation for Cope's trip.
It certainly was not something Brailsford guessed at because Sportsmail became aware that Pooley was being used as the reason for the trip days before Brailsford met with this newspaper to respond to questions about Cope.
Pooley is understandably baffled and would like Brailsford to explain himself.
'I have no idea why they would have said that someone was coming to meet me. I don't know,' she said.
'I'm the kind of person who keeps records of everything. Maybe it was an honest mistake. It's clearly quite a serious issue because it's about the perception of cycling, and anti-doping.
'I think you should check statements before you come out with that kind of thing.
Wiggins celebrates victory in the seven-stage Dauphine Libere race in 2011
Brailsford keeps an eye on Team Sky training at the Manchester Velodrome in February, 2009
'When you're being questioned about something as important as this you shouldn't just come out with guesses and if it is an honest mistake then he should be checking his facts. It doesn't matter to me, it just looks bad for them. It's at best silly and careless.'
As Sportsmail revealed, Wiggins, Team Sky and British Cycling are now the subject of a UK Anti-Doping investigation that is centred on the package couriered by Cope.
UKAD would only confirm they are investigating 'an allegation of wrongdoing in cycling', which was extended on Friday to an allegation made by the disgraced former Sky rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke that a controversial but currently legal painkiller was being liberally distributed to British riders at the 2012 World Championships.
On Friday UKAD investigators made an unscheduled visit to the National Cycling centre in Manchester that houses the offices of British Cycling and Team Sky.
Pooley, pictured back in 2011, was actually in Spain when Brailsford said she was in France
The doctor at the centre of both allegations is Richard Freeman, who over the years formed an extremely close bond with Wiggins and was with the all-conquering British track team at the Olympic Games in Rio.
On Saturday British Cycling took the decision to withdraw Freeman from this week's World Road Championships in Qatar.
British Cycling programmes director Andy Harrison said: 'This was a decision taken with the best interests of Richard and the riders.'
According to insiders, Freeman was long seen as 'Brad's doc', so much so that other riders within both Team Sky and British Cycling grew resentful about their relationship.
Wiggins raises his right hand to signify his fifth Olympic gold medal at Rio in August
Wiggins appeared on BBC's Andrew Marr Show on September 25 to discuss his TUEs
It was not helped by the fact that Wiggins would allow Freeman to travel on his private jet — after he began to command more than £4million a year in salary at Sky he would hire them regularly to return from races — while denying fellow riders the luxury.
And within Team Sky he was renowned for not wanting to use the nominated race doctor, preferring instead to work simply with Freeman. It helped that the two live close to one another in Lancashire.
While Freeman has not responded to countless requests to speak, Wiggins was photographed on Sunday on a training ride near the home he shares with his family.
Wiggins has said he welcomes the UKAD investigation while both British Cycling and Team Sky deny any wrongdoing.
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