Triamcinolone
Freeman was the name on Wiggins' TUE applications three times - before the 2011 and 2012 Tours de France and the 2013 Giro d'Italia. He defended his actions in applying for the TUEs, indicating that it is reasonable to take an aggressive, legal course of treatment before a patient's major goals.
"People say: 'Well why give it in front of a major race?' When I was in general practice I used to give it to students before they sat their A-levels, because that was their most important time of their academic career. I'd given it to people before driving tests, this isn't a recurrent medication, this is an additional medication for the treatment of allergic rhinitis - hay fever."
Having to prescribe such a powerful drug, Freeman says, does not mean the patient is too ill to compete.
"That's where you've got to get into the mind of sportsmen. I've been to the Olympic Games - very different to a World Championships - and you get someone at the start of an Olympic Games and if there's something wrong with them or something potentially wrong with them they'd almost do anything," he said.
"So the Tour de France was [Wiggins'] season's goal, it was the most important and it was well-known that he'd suffered from asthma for a long time... so he had a problem - a genuine medical need - and he was managing his allergic rhinitis as best he could on maximal treatment, but if it's out of control, it affects asthma and your ability to ride. He wanted help - I went to an independent expert to ask for help, nothing at all to do with Team Sky or BC, and got advice how to treat him."
