Of course, despite Freeman’s absence, UKAD will still need to prove its case to the anti-doping panel, which may prove difficult thanks to the lack of records kept by the doctor during his time at British Cycling and Sky – not helped by the destruction of laptops from that period – an issue which scuppered UKAD’s inquiry in 2017 into possible wrongdoing at both teams.
That particular probe was related to the contents of a package delivered to Freeman on the final day of the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné, containing medicine for race winner Wiggins. In 2016, Team Sky principal Sir Dave Brailsford told a parliamentary enquiry that the package, taken to France from Manchester by a British Cycling employee, contained the decongestant fluimucil, to treat Wiggins’ hay fever.
However, British Cycling was unable to provide evidence of records to back that up, and with UKAD unable to determine exactly what was in the package, the investigation was closed.We’ve noticed you’re using an ad blocker. If you like road.cc, but you don’t like ads, please consider subscribing to the site to support us directly. As a subscriber you can read road.cc ad-free, from as little as £1.99.
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