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| - A tribunal into the conduct of former British Cycling doctor Richard Freeman was told Friday allegations he had ordered a banned substance to dope riders "don't add up". Freeman, also charged in his former role with Team Sky (now Team Ineos) has admitted to 18 of 22 charges levelled at him by the General Medical Council. He denies, however, the central charge of ordering Testogel, a testosterone product, knowing or believing the substance was intended to dope a rider. Almost two years after it started, the fitness-to-practice hearing has finally reached the summing up stage, with Freeman's lawyer, Mary O'Rourke, making her closing submission on Friday. In addition to the GMC charges against him, Freeman also faces the prospect of action by UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) which could carry a four-year ban from the sport. But O'Rourke argued Friday the GMC case for saying Freeman ordered the testosterone in order to dope a rider was built on "surmise and speculation". "They haven't got a smidgen of evidence to show that he ordered the Testogel in order to dope a rider," O'Rourke said. "They can't identify a rider...it doesn't add up." Freeman has insisted he ordered the Testogel at the request of former performance director Shane Sutton to treat his erectile dysfunction, something Sutton has denied. Meanwhile, O'Rourke said Freeman, who has accused Sutton of bullying, had everything to lose by attempting to dope a rider. "What's in it for him if he gets an (anti-doping rule violation)? "He's at risk for being knocked out of the sport for two to four years." O'Rourke also questioned the brief but dramatic testimony of Sutton in November 2019, when he stormed out of the hearing denying allegations he was a "liar, a doper and a bully". "Why was there such an explosion? Why didn't simply Shane Sutton say, 'It wasn't me and I've got nothing to hide'? "He wanted to stop being asked anything." O'Rourke also expressed surprise that GMC lawyer Simon Jackson had not called Team Sky principal and former British Cycling chief Dave Brailsford as a witness during the hearing. "Dave Brailsford is the spectre missing at these proceedings and would have been able to answer an awful lot of questions about what was going on at British Cycling and Team Sky," she said. The tribunal has now been adjourned until March 2, when a verdict on the facts is expected. jdg/mw
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