Former Team Sky rider Josh Edmondson has admitted to breaching regulations by injecting himself with vitamins during his time with the British outfit.
The 24-year-old claims that he confessed to violating the International Cycling Union's 'no needles' policy, only for senior management at his employers to "cover up" the offence.
"In 2014 I was under a lot of pressure, not just from the team but from myself," Edmondson told BBC Sport.
"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. I think it was just before the Tour of Austria, I went to Italy to buy the vitamins that I was going to later inject. I brought them all back to Nice.
"I bought butterfly clips, the syringes, the carnitine (a supplement), folic acid, 'TAD' (a supplement), damiana compositum, and [vitamin] B12, and I'd just inject that two or three times a week maybe. Especially when I wanted to lose weight, I'd inject the carnitine more often because it was very effective."
Team Sky have claimed that needles and legal vitamins were found in Edmondson's room, but no action was taken as he denied using them and the team feared accusations could push the cyclist "over the edge".
During the revealing interview, Edmondson also admitted to becoming addicted to the painkiller Tramadol, which he says caused him to sink into depression.
