Sir Bradley Wiggins insists he had no unfair advantage and only took a banned steroid before major races to treat severe asthma.

The former Tour de France champion and multiple Olympic cycling medalist has been under major scrutiny since the Fancy Bears leak of the medical records of some of the world's top athletes.

Wiggins was shown to have taken a powerful anti-inflammatory under the therapeutic use exemption rules, shortly before the 2011 and 2012 Tour de France.

But he's told the BBC he is a life-long asthma sufferer and there were no alternatives.

"This wasn't about trying to find a way to gain an unfair advantage, this was about putting myself back on a level playing field, in order to compete at the highest level."

The Fancy Bears leak showed Wiggins injected the drug shortly before the 2011 and 2012 Tour de France.

Wiggins understands why it looks bad, particularly as he wrote in his autobiography that he'd never used needles.

"The landscape of the time, in 2012, right at the height of Lance Armstrong and just before the crash as it were with him - the question 'have you ever used needles' was always a loaded question with regards to doping."

Wiggins said they're being scrutinised for doing everything right by world cycling and WADA guidelines.

"As athletes, we don't invent those rules. We have to abide by the rules, and Team Sky especially - it's the biggest cycling team in the world - 100% everything they have done are within the rules that are set to us."