Cycling doctor calls doping ruling ‘unbelievable’

LONDON: Former British Cycling and Team Sky chief doctor Richard Freeman insists he has “never doped a rider” after revealing his shock at the ruling of a Medical Practitioners Tribunal over him ordering banned testosterone.

Dr Freeman had admitted 18 of 22 charges against him relating to the ordering of a package of Testogel to British Cycling headquarters in 2011, but denied the central charge regarding its purpose.

After a hearing lasting more than two years, decisions on the contested charges were issued by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service on Friday.

The tribunal found Dr Freeman had ordered testosterone knowing or believing it was to dope a rider. In making its decision, the tribunal said Dr Freeman’s evidence was “implausible” and “dishonest” and that his conduct was “incapable of innocent explanation”.

Dr Freeman claimed he had been bullied into ordering the testosterone to treat former performance director Shane Sutton’s erectile dysfunction, which the Australian strenuously denied on an explosive day of testimony in 2019. In a lengthy interview with the Mail On Sunday, Dr Freeman again maintained he was not a doper.

“It’s so disappointing. It’s unbelievable,” Dr Freeman said of the tribunal’s ruling. “I have never doped a rider in my life. I’m still to see any evidence of who this rider supposedly was.”

He added: “And, yes, I deserved the GMC tribunal, but I can say with a clear conscience that I didn’t order Testogel knowing or believing it was for cheating.”