Wiggins releases blood profile

Bradley Wiggins, the Garmin-Slipstream rider who has made a spectacularly successful transition from the velodrome to the road, has released his blood profile data for the past year-and-a-half.

The 29-year-old Wiggins equaled the best Tour de France finish by a Briton with fourth place in this year’s race and has said he wants to improve on that feat by 2011. The reigning individual pursuit Olympic champion and member of the gold-medal winning team pursuit squad in Beijing said he is fully committed to racing on the road, at least through 2012.

His strong performance on the road – particularly on tough climbs in the Giro d’Italia and Tour – prompted some to question whether his performance was in keeping with his team’s strong anti-doping stance.

To allay some of those concerns, Wiggins released his blood profile based on data from his 2008 training camp through the end of the 2009 Tour. Wiggins’ Garmin team noted that the “profile indicates no evidence of blood manipulation.”

“Brad is an exceptionally talented athlete and it was great to see him do so well in the Tour de France. He’s always been an outspoken advocate of clean cycling. He requested that we release his results after the Tour and his decision makes me and the entire team proud,” said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of the team’s management company, Slipstream Sports.

“I know that some people think I’m on drugs. I know how the sport is,” Wiggins told reporters early in the Tour. “The sport changed so much in the past three years. I was inspired by (teammate) Christian (Vande Velde)’s performance last year and maybe I realized that on this Tour you don’t have to be on drugs to do well.”

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