Former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman has been banned from all sport for four years for violating anti-doping rules.

UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) said he had 30 sachets of a testosterone gel delivered to the National Cycling Centre in Manchester in May 2011 and lied about it.

The watchdog said the National Anti-Doping Panel decision to ban him was made in July.

Freeman was in his role at British Cycling and what was Team Sky when Bradley Wiggins became Britain’s first Tour de France champion in 2012, a time when British cycling soared to the top of the cycling world.

The Testogel Freeman ordered is prescription-only medication and banned under anti-doping rules as it contains testosterone.

Freeman told UKAD he ordered the gel for a “non-rider” member of British Cycling staff, but refused to name them due to patient confidentiality.

He said he had asked them several times to waive their confidentiality but they refused. However, UKAD said this was false, as was his claim the gel had been returned to the supplier.

In 2021, Freeman was also struck off the medical register after a tribunal ruled he knew or believed the gel was intended for a rider to improve their performance.