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Doctor, courier to answer MP's questions in Team Sky probe

The doctor and the courier at the heart of an inquiry into the contents of a medical package given to cycling great Bradley Wiggins are set to be questioned by a committee of British lawmakers this month.

Dr Richard Freeman and Simon Cope, a former British Cycling women's team manager, will be asked about the drug in a bag given to Wiggins in June 2011 and the alleged absence of why there appears to be no record of the contents.

The Feb 22 hearing of the House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee, is also set to receive evidence on the same day from United Kingdom Anti-Doping (UKAD) chief executive Nicole Sapstead.

UKAD's investigation into "potential wrongdoing" during the incident is set to be completed by then.

Former coach Shane Sutton told MPs in December that the package had contained medicine that was administered to Wiggins, Britain's 2012 Tour de France winner, by Freeman.

Cope, a former British Cycling employee who denies any misconduct, said he had not yet been officially summoned by the committee.

"I want to clear it up because I'm fed up with my name being dragged through the mud," Cope told British media.

'HAND ON HEART'

"To this day, hand on heart, on my kids' hearts, I do not know what was in there. I was asked to do a job.

"I was told by senior management, 'We want you to do that' or, 'Do this'... People say, 'You're naive, you should have asked because you're going through customs'. Maybe I was, but also why would I question?

"I had been working at British Cycling for eight years and I had never seen anything to question."

Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford has also already given evidence to the select committee, saying in December that the "mystery" delivery reported in a Daily Mail story was Fluimucil, a decongestant approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency. - REUTERS

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