GMC Hearing, Freeman and Sutton.

velo.2010

Is anyone following this... extraordinary stuff!

You get the impression that there is a dark overlord in the background, pulling the strings, as Sutton still insists he was the head coach of a clean organisation - BC/Team Sky - as Freeman's QC throws every accusation at him.

https://twitter.com/danroan

velo.2010

The tactic of proving Sutton is a bully - and therefore bullied Freeman into ordering the Test patches - worked!

mr spuckler

Had just been reading this. Amazing stuff.

brocbrocach

It's well worth looking at that twitter link.
I get the impression Sutton is being thrown under the bus here. Couldn't happen to a nicer fella but it does come across like a stitch-up. Question is who benefits?

velo.2010

brocbrocach wrote: »

Couldn't happen to a nicer fella but it does come across like a stitch-up. Question is who benefits?

Everyone associated with British Cycling/Team Sky-Ineos bar Freeman and Sutton if, and only if, Sutton keeps his mouth shut on Thursday and flies back to Spain, taking what he really knows with him. Expect lots of calls back and forward with 'the dark overlord'.

Freeman and his legal team have played this well. I think Freeman will take whatever punishment comes his way and disappear into the ether, never to be heard again.

godtabh

Some of the quotes are priceless.

Is Sutton compelled to testify?

harringtonp

godtabh wrote: »

Some of the quotes are priceless.

Is Sutton compelled to testify?

You get the impression that if this was been done by usada the outcome would expect very different.

During the Armstrong saga they put the frighteners on when getting testimonies

CramCycle

If this was a comedy on BBc or C4, you would say they went too far and made it unbelievable.

harringtonp

CramCycle wrote: »

If this was a comedy on BBc or C4, you would say they went too far and made it unbelievable.

If it was staged they did a great job. "Have a big row lads and then you storm off out of there and back to Spain. That will knock the steam out of it "

Will be interesting to see if he is back tomorrow. Reminds me of he days of hulk hogan and jake the snake

Doc07

It’s genius really. A poor shy doctor bullied by a big bulky coach who needs Testogel for ‘social reasons’.
Can just imagine the pre inquiry team talk ‘lets go with erectile dysfunction, sure nobody would lie about that due to embarrassment, will make everyone forget about all the inconsistencies in the Bradley/Froome era’

Mainstream media and possibly cycling fans don’t really care anymore that at a professional level it’s still a stinking pile of doping and cheating.
Still fantastic to watch on a good day though and in the h’penny place of bad ethics compared to some ‘bigger’ sports.

Macy0161

Both of them being thrown under the bus imo. Sutton doesn't really have much to gain or lose in the UK at this stage.

harringtonp wrote: »

You get the impression that if this was been done by usada the outcome would expect very different.

During the Armstrong saga they put the frighteners on when getting testimonies

USADA didn't put the frighteners on anyone. It was the federal investigation, with the grand jury and threat of jail time that forced the evidence.

godtabh

He's not turning up tomorrow.

brocbrocach

godtabh wrote: »

He's not turning up tomorrow.

He's right not to. Twas a circus.
But now we're left at Freeman says A, Sutton says B. If there was ever a good opportunity to break the code it was during this sh1tshow. Freeman seems to have anxiety issues and Sutton is stuipid angry and a bit more pressure could have seen all kinds of revelations - as hinted at in Sutton's threatening texts.

Yeah Freeman a no show today

https://www.rte.ie/sport/cycling/2019/1114/1090835-adverse-psychological-reaction-behind-freeman-no-show/

velo.2010

According to QC O'Rourke, Sutton has 7 kids by 3 or 4 different women and was riding the BC masseuse around the time of the ordered Testogel.

She'e presenting Sutton as a sex addict and therefore needed the Testosterone to keep up his prowess. Says he would brag about his conquests to Dr Peters.

He sounds like Pat Mustard!:D

CramCycle

CramCycle wrote: »

If this was a comedy on BBc or C4, you would say they went too far and made it unbelievable.

velo.2010 wrote: »

According to QC O'Rourke, Sutton has 7 kids by 3 or 4 different women and was riding the BC masseuse around the time of the ordered Testogel.

She'e presenting Sutton as a sex addict and therefore needed the Testosterone to keep up his prowess. Says he would brag about his conquests to Dr Peters.

He sounds like Pat Mustard!:D

I suspect the show will be cancelled after episode 6 and become a cult classic that no one watches but everyone quotes.

brocbrocach

velo.2010 wrote: »

According to QC O'Rourke, Sutton has 7 kids by 3 or 4 different women and was riding the BC masseuse around the time of the ordered Testogel.

She'e presenting Sutton as a sex addict and therefore needed the Testosterone to keep up his prowess. Says he would brag about his conquests to Dr Peters.

He sounds like Pat Mustard!:D

Jeezus that's not nice linen to have washed in public. It wouldn't pass muster for being put in the tabloids even. With friends like Freeman ...

TheBlaaMan

This is his missus' twitter account....


https://twitter.com/daisychainpink/status/1194563856141619201?s=20

ahem

velo.2010

Even if not his intention, Steve Peters gave more of an insight into the results driven mindset of British Cycling then anyone else associated with the organisation.

Freeman was wholly inadequate at the administrative side of his job.

The hierarchy at British Cycling could be described as dysfunctional in its operation.

Questions were never asked as to whom and what the Testogel, and potentially other substances, were ordered for.

Sutton was given free reign in how he did things - no one could or would try to question his methods because of his tough image.

Still no clear explanation as to why testosterone would be ordered from such a company when the pharmacy across the road could have provided the very same.

British Cycling comes across as a farcical, amateur hour set up from this tribunal.

Macy0161

The impression given at the cycling podcast live event last night was there's much more to come out from the Tribunal. I'm not so convinced, unless there's further investigations once this process concludes.

velo.2010

So, physio Phil 'jiffy bag ' Burt can remember precisely what was in the Testogel order (not just testosterone BTW), yet can't remember what he packed in the infamous package to Wiggins in 2011 - one month after the British Cycling order.

Sutton continues to come across as a serial bully. Brailsford and Peters let him to it because he, ultimately, got the results they required.

A larger, deeper investigation of the 'medal factory' is needed but may never happen because the truth - which many already know - will be to jarring to the wider British public.

It's in the best interests of British Cycling, UK Sport, UKAD etc. to maintain the status quo, and their existence, by skimming over any details from this inquiry.

velo.2010

Freeman 'prescribed a skiing holiday by his doctor' so can't attend if the tribunal runs into the new year.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/freeman-absent-from-medical-tribunal-after-upsetting-media-reports/

You couldn't make this stuff up.

velo.2010

I'm fond of a can of Coke and a McDonalds myself but not like this...

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/50725914

Odd though, that Freeman would have to order testosterone (to treat erectile dysfunction) for a guy who he knew was a former doper!

velo.2010

Its back!

Freeman was in the dock today. He said he took a screwdriver to the replacement laptop for the laptop 'stolen' in 2014. He described how he saw a programme about unlawful data retrieval (in India apparently, so no stereotyping there then) from old laptops so, just to be sure, he went at it with a screwdriver, and didn't bother to back up the information stored on that laptop. How very convenient!

More about Shane Sutton's mickey and an 'interrogation' by Sky's James Murdoch ahead of the DCMS inquiry.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/freeman-says-he-destroyed-laptop-with-screwdriver-as-tribunal-resumes/

Mefistofelino

velo.2010 wrote: »

Its back!

Freeman was in the dock today. He said he took a screwdriver to the replacement laptop for the laptop 'stolen' in 2014. He described how he saw a programme about unlawful data retrieval (in India apparently, so no stereotyping there then) from old laptops so, just to be sure, he went at it with a screwdriver, and didn't bother to back up the information stored on that laptop. How very convenient!

More about Shane Sutton's mickey and an 'interrogation' by Sky's James Murdoch ahead of the DCMS inquiry.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/freeman-says-he-destroyed-laptop-with-screwdriver-as-tribunal-resumes/

That'd be a great punk band name

velo.2010

Richard Freeman proving quite clearly that being a doctor doesn't necessarily mean your smart.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/freeman-now-claims-he-destroyed-the-testosterone-gels-in-tribunal/

Of course, he could be playing the 'dumb as fcuk' card to get off the charge of intending to dope athletes charge, but this guy can't keep his story straight. He claims to have brought anti-doping protocols to various sports, but in another breath, he says he didn't know possesion of a prohibited substance without a TUE is a violation of the WADA code.

He also said nothing about destroying the Testogel in his previous submissions to the DCMS or the GMC.

I think his his lies will be his undoing... eventually.

velo.2010

Bit of a longer read today but worth following the case...

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/freeman-i-never-doped-a-rider/

Freeman admitted to effectively 'doping' the Team Sky/British cycling staff under the guise of marginal gains; however, he claims he never doped a rider.

The Fit4Sport testogel saga has never been satisfactorily explained. Did Phil 'the physio' Burt spook Freeman and Peters when he discovered the Testogel package and they quickly concocted the 'email them back and get rid of it' story?

The other day, Freeman said Peters was possibly lying when he(Peters) told the hearing that Freeman did not tell him about destroying it, only telling Peters that the Testogel was for Sutton. Are they struggling to keep their stories straight?

gmacww

Been following the trial and it's interesting. This is a good run down of things:

https://twitter.com/Jamie_langley1/status/1315915156631752709

The issue is is that while we have a lot of claims and admissions on Freeman's part he is still protecting himself and others. This is a hearing into his competence to continue practicing it's not an investigation into doping in sport. With that in mind if he says I gave <substance name> to rider X then he will be deemed no longer fit to practice which is what he doesn't want. To that end there are and will be further claims however no smoking gun.

At the end of the day anyone with an interest in cycling and who follows the sport knows the Sky/INEOS/BC situation. After this DB and INEOS will release a statement denying everything and they will move onto the Vuelta as if nothing happened.

mr spuckler

Freeman doesn't sound like he's in great shape here, his fitness to give evidence being is questioned.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/oct/26/freeman-denies-trying-to-remove-laptop-as-tribunal-takes-bizarre-turn

velo.2010

Freeman has seemingly tampered or destroyed every computer he's owned in the past ten years. One might think he was trying to hide something!

This latest bizarre computer incident seems like an ostentatious attempt to play to the gallery, so to speak, with his mental health.

While not a direct investigation into doping in sport (as mentioned in a post above), if he is considered unfit for the hearing we may not get to hear of the alleged practises within BC and Sky regarding testosterone and other forms of exogenous recovery.

dastardly00

This whole thing just gets more and more bizarre