Dr Richard Freeman will reportedly claim testosterone patches were for British Cycling officials, not riders

Richard Freeman, the former doctor to Team Sky and British Cycling, may tell a General Medical Council hearing in the New Year that testosterone patches delivered to the National Cycling Centre in Manchester were destined for senior members of the governing body’s staff – something the individuals concerned are said to have denied, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Existence of the patches came to light when officials from UK Anti-doping visited the governing body’s headquarters in Manchester as part of the agency’s probe into allegations of wrongdoing at British Cycling and Team Sky.

Former head of medicine at British Cycling, Doctor Steve Peters, has said that they were delivered to the velodrome in error and returned to the Oldham-based supplier, but the Mail on Sunday says that Freeman could tell the GMC tribunal in February that the patches were intended for at least two senior officials at the governing body, and not for riders.

The newspaper adds that the individuals concerned have provided testimony denying any involvement and that there is no documentary evidence such as prescriptions to support the claim.

Freeman, who left British Cycling last year apparently due to ill health, was the doctor at the centre of the Jiffy Bag controversy regarding the contents of a package delivered to him at the 2011 Criterium du Dauphiné and said to contain medicine for Sir Bradley Wiggins.

He was heavily criticised in a subsequent report on doping in sport by the House of Commons select committee on Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, although he failed to appear in person to give evidence during its inquiry.

Earlier this month, Freeman had been due to give evidence at an employment tribunal in Manchester in support of the former track cyclist Jess Varnish, who is seeking to prove that she was an employee of the organisation rather than self-employed.

The doctor pulled out of his scheduled appearance however on the advice of his legal team due to his forthcoming GMC hearing, which could result in him being suspended from practising medicine or even struck off.