Dr Richard Freeman, the former chief doctor of both British Cycling and Team Sky has been found guilty of ordering a banned substance and "knowing or believing" it would be given to an unnamed rider for the purposes of doping.
Freeman accepted 18 of the 22 charges against him relating to the ordering of a package of the banned substance Testogel to to British Cycling headquarters in 2011.
However, Freeman, who worked for Team Sky and British Cycling between 2009 and 2017, denied the central charge regarding its purpose.
During a tribunal hearing which began in February 2019 and was only expected to last for around two months, he also admitted lying to UK Anti-Doping authorities.
The verdict, announced on Friday by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester, raises serious questions over the decade-long success of British Cycling and Team Sky.
Announcing the verdict the chair of the MPTS, Neil Dalton said: “The tribunal had found that you, Dr Freeman placed the order, and obtained the Testogel, knowing or believing it was to be administered to an athlete to improve their athletic performance.
"The motive for your action was to conceal a conduct.”
The General Medical Council had stated throughout the protracted case, which has dragged on for 25 months, that Freeman “crossed the line and went way beyond it” by purchasing banned testosterone for an unnamed rider – and then used a “pattern of lies” to cover his tracks.
Of the 22 charges against him, Freeman admitted lying to the UK Anti-Doping Agency, providing inappropriate treatment to non-riding staff, and keeping haphazard records.
However, he contested four charges all relating to the delivery of testosterone to British Cycling headquarters in Manchester. He accepted that he had ordered 30 sachets of Testogel, but denied knowledge of how it would be used.
Instead he claimed that he was bullied by the former coach of British Cycling and Team Sky, Shane Sutton, into ordering it to treat his erectile dysfunction. That claim was strenuously denied by Sutton at the tribunal in 2019 when he labelled Freeman "spineless".
The one charge that was found to be not proved was that Dr Freeman knew the Testogel was not clinically indicated for Sutton.
The tribunal will sit again for three days next week to assess Freeman's licence to practice before in April determining whether he should lose his licence and what potential punishments he should face.
