With Richard Freeman's medical tribunal still incomplete after the conclusion of its latest schedule on Thursday, a new timeframe has been announced for the hearing to conclude in May 2021.

The medical fitness to practise hearing, which began in February 2019 and centered on the testosterone gel ordered by the former Team Sky and British Cycling doctor from the National Velodrome, will therefore exceed two years.

The new timeframe adjusts the existing schedules of lawyers and tribunal members, and the final hearing is scheduled for May 4-7. This will bump the trial to the 10-year anniversary of testosterone administration, when the World Anti-Doping Agency's statute of limitations will no longer allow anti-doping charges to be filed.

British Anti-Doping, which first heard about the administration of testosterone and passed its evidence to the General Medical Council (GMC), was prepared to act if the GMC could substantiate the material allegations that Freeman "knowingly or believingly" directed the administration of the banned substance to the riders. . was prepared to take action.

It is understood that the new 10-year statute of limitations imposed in 2015 would apply to the 8-year statute of limitations in effect at the time of the June 2011 administration.

Court resumed on January 22 and will convene again on January 25-27 to complete the "factual" phase of the process in which Freeman and his legal team will challenge the allegations filed by the GMC.

Freeman has accepted 18 of the 22 original claims, but disputes four related to testosterone gel, which he claims he ordered to treat senior coach Shane Sutton's erectile dysfunction.

Freeman's lawyers called their witnesses this week, and the GMC, whose key witness Shane Sutton mobbed after cross-examination last November, called its last witness on Wednesday.

The tribunal is scheduled to reach a decision on the facts on March 2. The proceedings will then move to the "disability" phase, where the doctor's fitness to practice will be assessed in light of the findings. Both sides may still call witnesses at this stage, after which a disposition will be made.

The tribunal will reconvene for this purpose for three days, from March 17 to 19, and again six weeks later for four days, from May 4 to 7.

In theory, this would conclude the process, but all deadlines set so far have passed, and the possibility of further twists and turns cannot be ruled out.

On Wednesday, Professor Don Grubin, a witness for the GMC, reportedly told the court that he believes Freeman is showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder after a hearing last November in which he denounced him as an "apathetic individual" before the storm.

Earlier this week, Freeman's team called Tony Cook, father of former Olympic champion Nicole Cook, and former athlete Kwietoslav Palov in an attempt to reopen doping allegations involving Sutton.

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