Doping

If Freeman had information that was able to save his skin, he'd have used it by now, no? So either he's so scared he's prepared to lose his career or he's actually telling something close to the truth but, because he's lied repeatedly on other matters, no-one believes him. Certainly the GMC panel didn't, but the prosecution case was almost entirely based on conjecture and in would have collapsed like a pack of cards in a court of law.

I mean, I have no idea, but if you've lied once you've basically fucked yourself wrt any other statements you've made.

I'm not sure whether Freeman has actually broken the law!

I had to sit through an afternoon of corporate marginal gains bs from an former olympic rower whilst desperate to shout 'what about the fucking drugs?'

By ordering testosterone he's broken anti-doping rules and UKAD will, rightly, prosecute him for that. But I don't think we know the full story here, as I think I've made fairly clear, and I think for BC and Sky/Ineos it's important that comes out.

Fuck knows if it ever will though.

Shame none of them signed NDAs, then the case could have been conducted via twitter.

A very one sided case though.

I think for BC and Sky/Ineos it's important that it doesn't come out.

By ordering testosterone he's broken anti-doping rules and UKAD will, rightly, prosecute him for that

What he is alleged to have done is certainly an ADRV under the current WADA code, but I'm not sure that it was in 2011 when it happened.

UKAD is not a prosecuting authority, so they can't prosecute him, and in all probability nobody can because it doesn't look like he has committed a crime.

Even if that was true, you must be a fucking lunatic to have Test delivered to squeaky clean British Cycling HQ for any reason. Dafuq were they thinking?

I think it might be naive to think that the (in)famous Jiffy bag is a one off.

Like I said before, I think it’s highly unlikely it was the sender of that parcel that broke the story.

If it was someone at BC though presumably they'd have a bunch of occasions where they'd seen dodgy deliveries?

If it was Sutton (or for that matter another BC/Sky employee) then he/they may have seen an opportunity in the way that particular one was handled or just have had enough and decided to give a tip off about that particular one.

Maybe but if it was so prevalent and they wanted to hurt BC I'd assume they'd have left a bit more detail than one order. Maybe that was enough though, given what we're all talking about. Does anyone outside cycling give a shit though? "Normal" people think they're all on the juice all the time anyway

Does anyone outside cycling give a shit though? "Normal" people think they're all on the juice all the time anyway

Dunno. It’s the doping that’s making the headlines though innit. The sexism, misogyny etc all seem to be flying under the radar nowadays. There wasn’t much in the press about Kev the perv getting the tin tack last year.

It would be interesting to do a poll and see how many of us “non-Normal” people on here reckon they’re all on the juice. I’ve always thought they were and are, I still love watching the racing though.

They’re as clean as Mo Farah

I think a lot is being read into the verdict of the GMC tribunal. It wasn't a doping investigation, rather it was deciding on whether a Doctor was fit to continue to practise medicine. Given that he admitted most of the charges the verdict was a given.

What is more interesting, and definitely needs further investigation, is the idea that Shane Sutton is a credible witness. Both this story, and the Jiffy bag story, come from the same source and it widely rumoured that it is Sutton. The Daily Mail have a signed affidavit from him that has never been published. The parliamentary committee that Damian Collins leads that investigated this also have information on Sutton that has never been published.

Sutton clearly has a grudge against BC as an organisation, or individuals who work(ed) there, and this case came about because of that. I hope the UKAD investigation covers this properly.

Not quite. The tribunal's verdict was that Freeman was found guilty of ordering testosterone for an unknown rider.
You don't have to read anything into it, it's pretty clear.

It does make you wonder why Comcast ended sponsorship as soon as they could.
If Fox had managed to buy out Sky would Lachlan Murdoch have extended the deal, with James having lost his correspondence rights?

The tribunal's verdict was that Freeman was found guilty of ordering testosterone for an unknown rider

"This guidance came into effect 25 February 2013"

I'd like to see what, if anything, the GMC had to say about sports medicine before that. I imagine that if the doping element of the allegations is significant in any decision to treat his fitness to practise as impaired, that will be explained in the full decision, which should be published within 28 days of the "sentencing" hearing scheduled for the first week of May.

Not quite. The tribunal's verdict was that Freeman was found guilty of ordering testosterone for an unknown rider.
You don't have to read anything into it, it's pretty clear.

They have zero evidence to prove this, though. If this was a civil or criminal case, they couldn't have reached this verdict. All they know is that testosterone was ordered and delivered to BC HQ. No evidence has yet been brought into the public domain as to who it was destined for other than Sutton.

Who, we know, used it before when he was a rider.

Surely people aren’t swallowing the bullshit that this was for Sutton?

It’s a drug that’s known to be used to offset the side effects of cortisone use. So it’s not particularly hard to join the dots.

It's also a drug that is incredibly easy to detect, so isn't likely to be used by any serious doping regime.

I’m open minded about whether they were doping or not, but if they were it was confidently done. When I worked in the velodrome dungeon we shared changing rooms with the riders who often left kit bags while they hit the gym etc, the stores was open and we’d go in for a chat and ogle the kit, and the medics rooms were in the main public corridor next to the steps to the track centre, so if they were it was obvious they assumed everyone knew (unlikely), there was some separate secret meet up happened elsewhere (possible) or they took the hidden in plain view approach. Possible.

Personally I never got the wrong side of Shane but I know people who did and he was a nasty little c*** who did what he wanted when he wanted.

Maybe they were going to try it out on the kids first?

I would imagine its necessary to move fast and break things to find those marginal gains for Room X.

The MPTS is part of the tribunal system. It applies the civil standard of proof. An appeal from it goes to the High Court.

So - this was equivalent to a civil case, and it proceeded along the same lines as, and (in terms of burden and standard of proof) adopted the same approach as any other civil case...

Maybe it was all for Sir Dave in his quest to be hench.