Former Team Sky cyclist Josh Edmondson has cast further doubt on the credibility of the team by revealing that he used to give himself secret injections when he was a member of the team.
Speaking to Dan Roan of the BBC, Edmondson said he gave himself vitamins via a needle because of pressure he felt because of his selection for important races for Team Sky in 2014:
In 2014 I was under a lot of pressure, not just from the team but from myself. You want to renew your contract for one thing, and for me the bigger thing was not letting anyone down - this team had given me a chance by signing me and a bigger chance by letting me go to a Grand Tour.
Slightly worryingly, Edmondson described the injections as "an alternative to doping". While the vitamins Edmondson injected were legal, his use of needles broke the strict UCI 'no needles' policy. In addition to this he revealed that he had suffered from depression after using the painkiller Tramadol, also while under Sky's charge.
In a statement to the BBC, Sky said:
We are confident we have mechanisms in place which encourage a rider to bring any issues they may be experiencing to staff in confidence.
This is just the latest blow to Team Sky's credibility after several months in which former team leader Bradley Wiggins was caught up in controversy regarding his use of triamcinolone before three Grand Tours, before Sky chief Dave Brailsford came under fire after the revelation of a delivery of a mysterious package (that Brailsford later revealed contained Fluimucil) to Team Sky in 2011 and then again when the Daily Mail revealed that Brailsford had actually tried to kill the story about the package. What's more, in recent days Chris Froome has released a statement showing some support for Brailsford but not, as the Mail's Matt Lawton pointed out, declaring his backing for 'Dave B' as the man to lead Sky in the future.
