The tribunal into allegations of against former British Cycling and Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman faces further delay while it hears preliminary legal arguments believed to relate to his mental health.
The hearing in Manchester was due to start a fortnight ago today but was adjourned on application of his defence team, reports Mail Online.
And with only 20 working days allotted to the case it will almost certainly need to be relisted for later in the year.
The case is being heard by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, which said in a statement: “Please be advised that the preliminary legal argument being made in the hearing of Dr Freeman will continue throughout this week.
“This means that we do not expect a decision on the application until sometime next week.”
The allegations against Freeman include that he ordered testosterone “to administer to an athlete to improve their athletic performance” and if some or all of the charges against him are proven he could be suspended from practising medicine or even struck off.
In a statement, the General Medical Council said: “We were ready to open our case on the first day of the hearing and that remains the case now.
“However, as with any legal proceedings, the defence are entitled to raise preliminary matters, and we continue to assist the tribunal with their consideration of those matters.
“We remain ready to open our case and are eager to do so as soon as possible.”
Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.