There is “not a scrap of evidence” to prove that the former Team Sky and British Cycling doctor Richard Freeman is a drug cheat or used testosterone to dope a rider, his fitness-to-practice hearing was told on Saturday.
Freeman’s QC, Mary O’Rourke, said her client’s explanation that he bought 30 sachets of banned Testogel to treat his colleague Shane Sutton’s erectile dysfunction was true, even though Sutton has vociferously denied it.
Giving her final submissions in the case that has dragged into a third year, O’Rourke claimed the General Medical Council (GMC) case against Freeman was “increasingly desperate” and a “total mess” as they had not been able to name the rider for whom the testosterone had been bought.
“Unless you have a document or an email saying ‘I intend to do something’, or he tells his wife or colleague I intend to use it to dope Sir Bradley Wiggins or whoever, you haven’t got clear evidence or intent,” she said. “Perhaps the Testogel went out the door, or in the sink. Maybe it did go off to somebody but they haven’t got a scrap of evidence to prove it. They can’t.”
Freeman has admitted to 18 of the 22 charges against him, including misleading a UK Anti-Doping investigation after ordering 30 sachets of Testogel in 2011, but denies the central charge of doing so in order to dope a rider and says it was for Sutton instead.
“The fact he named Sutton, knowing he was a bully, having been scared of him, likely proves that he was telling the truth,” O’Rourke told the tribunal. “If Dr Freeman is right and it was for Shane Sutton then it assists his credibility that he has chosen to tell the create problems for himself.
O’Rourke also noted the GMC had said that Sutton did not need the Testogel for erectile dysfunction. “The question might arise is what Sutton, as a coach, is going to do with it – although this is not the GMC’s case,” she added.
She also claimed it would be “bizarre” if Freeman really was doping a rider that he would risk sending testosterone to the Manchester velodrome where others could open it. “You have to beware of red herrings,” she added. “There are many of them in this case. It looks like Team Sky and British Cycling have trolled through anything that might assist in discrediting Dr Freeman, or putting him in a bad light. What they need is evidence that he is a drug cheat. There is none.”
“At times it seemed like he was a contestant on Mastermind. And this is a man with poor mental health, for whom there was a need for reasonable adjustments. He cooperated fully. He didn’t refuse to answer any question. He was not the slippery, devious, dishonest monster which the GMC’s closing submissions suggested he was.”
O’Rourke also said the GMC’s claim that Freeman had bought Testogel to impress Sutton was “a truly stunning submission” and pointed out it was only introduced in closing submissions. The tribunal continues on Friday.