The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) was under fire on several fronts for delaying a drugs hearing for disgraced cyclist Mark French.

The Australian Olympic Committee, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Labor Party have all raised concerns over the ASC's handling of the matter.

It continued the fallout from French's explosive allegations of a performance-enhancing drug taking culture at the Australian Institute of Sport.

French, suspended for two years for a drugs offence, implicated five other AIS riders this month with having injected prohibited substances, including a growth hormone for horses, in an AIS room in Adelaide.

There was a seven-month lag between syringes and vials being discovered in French's room and his hearing at the CAS, in which he made the damaging claims.

Cycling Australia (CA) and the ASC, which administers and funds sport on behalf of the federal government, said the delay had been because it had waited for the CAS to hear the case.

However, a letter from the CAS sent last Thursday said it had acted promptly on the matter.

"I do not accept that there has been any delay on the part of CAS...and the assertion that CAS has informed the Australian Sports Commission that it cannot hear doping related matters is incorrect," CAS representative Jim Dwyer wrote.

It was 14 weeks after the syringes and vials were found that an application for a hearing was lodged at the CAS, and it was marked non-urgent by ASC lawyers.

The AOC has criticised CA and ASC after only finding out about the scandal last Thursday.

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