British Cycling suspended Freeman after he failed to show up for a hearing at the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee earlier this year. The former federation doctor has been at the centre of British Cycling controversies surrounding the 'mystery package' delivered to Bradley Wiggins at the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine and with the riders' use of corticosteroids and pain killers during his tenure. Team Sky and British Cycling later claimed that the package contained the decongestant, Fluimucil.
The Telegraph, who initially broke the story, reported that Freeman is suffering from 'stress-related issues' and is not expected to return to his post with British Cycling regardless of the outcome of a current investigation by UK Anti-Doping.
"Dr. Richard Freeman has tendered, and we have accepted, his resignation from British Cycling in the interest of his health," a statement from British Cycling said. "We regret that we have not been able to reconcile all unanswered questions whilst he was in our employment, but we continue to work closely with UKAD as we are intent on bringing their investigation to a satisfactory conclusion.
"We hope that upon his return to health, Richard can do his part to help bring to a close ongoing investigations."
In March of this year the Sunday Times also revealed that Freeman had taken delivery of testosterone patches at the Manchester velodrome in 2011. The doctor was working for both British Cycling and Team Sky at the time. The Sunday Times reported that UKAD established that sixty to seventy 40mg vials of triamcinolone were delivered to the Manchester velodrome in 2011 as well, though no medical records have ever been produced to justify such a quantity. In March Team Sky confirmed to Cyclingnews that Freeman had administered corticoidsteriods to staff of both the WorldTour team and British Cycling, however no medical records have been been provided with Freeman claiming that his laptop was later stolen and no back-up records record. Dave Brailsford, who appeared in front of the British select committee when Team Sky were left 'in a terrible position' according to one MP, was one of the staff to whom Freeman injected corticoidsteriods.
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Collins, who chairs the parliamentary committee, said in March: "First of all, it's absolutely damning that there are no records," Collins said. "How can you run a clean team or a clean sport when you don't know what the doctor is giving the cyclists? That's at the heart of this. I think that the credibility of the Fluimucil story has been undermined by the fact that there are no records. Not only are there no records of Fluimucil being supplied on that race, they can't provide any records of it ever being supplied by British Cycling to Team Sky. That undermines the credibility of that story."
