Sir Dave Brailsford has responded to rumours that he was one of the staff members Dr Richard Freeman treated with the corticosteroid triamcinolone by admitting that he did on one occasion receive an intra-articular injection to reduce inflammation in his knee.

Brailsford had surgery on the knee in question post-Beijing 2008. The injection was subsequent to that.

Keith Lambert, the Great Britain Cycling Team academy coach, also said on Friday that he had received an intra-articular injection of the drug, again administered by Freeman, to treat an arthritic hand.

Intra-articular injections differ from intramuscular injections in that they are local and contained in the joint, rather than systemic, allowing the medication to travel all through the body.

Sir Bradley Wiggins had three intramuscular injections of triamcinolone in the build-up to three grand tours between 2011 and 2013. Wiggins successfully applied for Therapeutic Use Exemptions to take the drug, which is otherwise banned in-competition.

Brailsford was speaking after UK Anti-Doping chief executive Nicole Sapstead told a parliamentary select committee hearing on Wednesday that her agency had traced a substantial amount of triamcinolone to British Cycling’s headquarters in Manchester, “far more” than would be needed for one person, in the course of its five-month investigation into British Cycling and Team Sky.