Brian Smith: This Could Be the End of Team Sky

Former MTN-Qubeka boss weighs in on national cycling scandal.

- Vern Pitt

Former MTN-Qubeka manager and commentator Brian Smith has said that the current controversy around Team Sky and its medical practices could prove enough to bring about the downfall of the team.

His comments come as UK Anti- Doping revealed that neither the team nor British Cycling had records to corroborate what was in a medical package couriered to Sky at the Dauphiné in 2011 and that then Sky doctor Richard Freeman had ordered large amounts of controlled corticosteroid triamcinolone, but it had yet to establish what it had been used for.

Smith, who said he had at one point been speaking to Sky team principal Dave Brailsford (pictured) about potentially working with the team this season as a consultant, told CW he now felt that Brailsford’s position had become untenable. He said: “It’s going to be difficult for Dave to remain as the manager of Team Sky.”

He added: “Brailsford is the team and if he resigns the whole team will come down, that’ll be the finish of the team. I don’t want to see that but Dave has put himself in that position.”

Brailsford has made a series of false claims to explain the story of the package including that Simon Cope, who delivered it, was visiting Emma Pooley and that the Sky bus left on the day in question before Bradley Wiggins, the alleged recipient of the package, could get on it.