Ephedrine for asthma? Not very likely.
Unspecified growth factors for a broken metatarsal? Requiring tamoxifen.
My recollection is tamoxifen use in bodybuilders is used to prevent aromatasing effects of testosterone.
Only 2 years?

Yeah 2 years...not good enough. We all know doping in AG is pretty rife.

I too was surprised that when no reasonable information was provided it was only 2 years instead of 4... Yes, he waived the B sample analysis and admitted it up front (which saves time and money), but the fact that he claimed that he was never notified that the bone regrowth treatment contained tamoxifan, should not be sufficient to reduce a suspension... I'm of the frame of mind that unless you can prove contamination beyond any reasonable doubt, or you name names and take down wide distribution networks/doping systems, you get the 4 year ban... Maybe with multiple infractions in the same sample, you get a bulk discount and get 2 years per substance (which would mean 6 years in this case). A 2 year ban does not seem like much of a deterrent for someone who admitted to using multiple banned substances (and at least in the case of the asthma med, he knew damn well it was illegal, because he filed for a retroactive TUE, knowing that he used it, and was subsequently tested...).

I assume he got popped after the Aquabike, because I don't recall seeing any doping control folks at the end of the duathlons (but did see chaperones after the LD Tri/Aquabike in the finish area). I'll also say good riddance, he wasn't in my AG, but was in my start wave, and was lighting shit up at the front of the opening run in the sprint Du...

Totally agree. They catch these guys so seldom, the penalty for when the do needs to be MUCH longer.

I would want the standard to be 8, with reduction to 4 if they take responsibility or provide information to take down suppliers/networks.

From the ITU sanction notice:
"Other than his word, the athlete neither submits reliable evidence in support of this Growth Factors treatment nor of the physician who administered said treatment and allegedly prescribed the
Tamoxifen. The Athlete submits no credible exculpatory evidence in support of his explanations and his retroactive TUE application was denied. Accordingly, he does not fulfill the burden of proof that would allow him to benefit from any reduction in sanction."

I call BS. He couldn't even supply the name of the physician who administered the treatment and prescribed the Tamoxifen; that's because there was no physician or if there was it was prescribed for an illegal purpose. 2 years is too short.

that type of bone re-growth "treatment" is not the type of thing prescribed by legitimate physicians... it's something you're more apt to get the shadier healing clinics... But ultimately it should be moot, when I ran collegiately and we went through our annual anti-doping seminar that we had to do in order to be eligible to compete at the varsity level, the main message was "It's an athlete's responsibility what they put in their body". They flat out told us, if you gamble on a supplement and then fail a test, our university would hang us out to dry, and do nothing to back us or support us in fighting a ban... Which is as it should be. Just as it's always an athlete's responsibility to know the course, you need to protect yourself and ask questions to your doctors about potential treatments, check global DRO, etc. Ignorance, and not asking questions shouldn't forgive you of a full suspension...

A guy I worked with in the bike industry a couple of years back held the following view on Wiggins and sky etc

"He cannot be held responsible for whatever he takes or goes into him because he is busy, he has professionals who know what they're doing to deal with all of that"

Yeah, amazed. It is ultimately the athletes responsibility - it has to be otherwise there is no accountability and nobody will take responsibility.

On a team like Sky, I would absolutely NOT trust anything given to me by team personnel... this screams of late 80s early 90s sprinters, and cyclists on mid-level pro teams being given "vitamins" by doctors hired by the teams or by a sponsor (sometimes even by the athletes) and not doing their diligence on asking questions (such is "why am I being injected from an unmarked vial?") and then being shocked that the vitamins were actually EPO or steroids...

While racing collegiately at one point I was sidelined with an injury, and my usual sports med doc was away that week, so I saw another at the same practice, and they put me on an anti-inflammatory for the injury. I never thought to question it, because the guy I worked with normally would always pull up the current list and double check before writing me a prescription. The next week I was back for a follow-up, and my normal guy was back and looked at my chart, and quickly double checked the med I was on, and quickly took them away from me, and gave me something else, apparently the one I was originally given contained a controlled substance (was not banned, but would have required a TUE for in-competition use at the time) fortunately I had still not returned to competing yet. From then on, I always asked questions, and double checked the list myself before taking anything even if it was prescribed by a doctor.