Former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman has been from all sport for four years for violating anti-doping rules.
UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) said in a statement that the independent National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP) found the 63-year-old committed rule violations of “possession of a prohibited substance” and “tampering” on two distinct occasions.
The four-year ban has been backdated to December 22, 2020, the date when UKAD provisionally suspended Freeman.
“The decision of the independent tribunal of the National Anti-Doping Panel confirms that Richard Freeman broke the UK Anti-Doping Rules,” said UKAD chief executive Jane Rumble.
“The rules are in place to make sure everyone plays their part in keeping sport clean and to ensure a level playing field.”
Freeman held his role at British Cycling and Team Sky, now named Ineos, when Bradley Wiggins became Britain’s first Tour de France champion in 2012 and followed it with success at the Olympics in London months later. He resigned from his position at British Cycling in 2017, having been off work due to stress-related illness.
Freeman, who was found guilty of ordering 30 sachets of banned testosterone gel for an unidentified rider in 2011, has already been permanently struck off the medical register after losing an appeal last January.
UKAD opened an investigation in 2016 after receiving information of a possible anti-doping violation by individuals linked to Team Sky at the Criterium du Dauphine race in June 2011.
Investigators then discovered a delivery of 30 Testogel sachets was made to British Cyclin Headquarters in Manchester in May 2011.
In a 2017 interview Freeman said he ordered the gel for a ‘non-riding’ member of British Cycling staff but claimed he had returned it to the supplier for destruction. He also said he had written to the unnamed ‘non-rider’ requesting they waive patient confidentiality but the person had refused.
British Cycling chair Frank Slevin noted the verdict and thanked the NADP for its work.
He said in a statement: “Throughout this case we have reiterated our belief that it is in public interest that all matters are heard and thoroughly examined, and have made every effort to support both UK Anti-Doping and the General Medical Council in their respective investigations.
“As we have stated previously, Richard Freeman’s conduct during his employment by British Cycling bore no resemblance to the high ethical and professional standards which we, our members and our partners rightly expect.”
