Up to £10,000 worth of high-performance kit said to be involved; Sutton remains as consultant to Team Sky
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Sky's sponsorship extension with British Cycling will benefit the UK's leading pros(Image credit: British Cycling)
British Cycling’s Shane Sutton before the London Track Worlds
British Cycling has been hit with further claims of misconduct, this time for disposing of up to £10,000 worth of materiel on online auctions. UK Sport has ordered the federation to investigate the claims that some of its personnel have auctioned the items off to the highest bidders.
According to Press Association, UK Sport and British Cycling met to discuss the matter on Tuesday morning, with a further meeting scheduled for Thursday. UK Sport is 'the funding body which distributes lottery cash to Olympic and Paralympic sports', and has invested £30.5 million into British Cycling from 2013 to 2017.
"UK Sport has asked British Cycling to investigate these allegations as a matter of urgency as it is vital we protect our investment in all sports on the world-class programme,” UK Sport said in a statement.
Adding that, "It is not appropriate to speculate or comment further until the investigation is completed."
The claims are said to be based on screenshots of online auctions. British Cycling was asked to investigate whether the goods “once belonged to the governing body, whether it was stolen or out of date.” For example, the kit may have been discarded due to change of a sponsor whose name was on the products.
The newest investigation follows close on the heels of one involving technical director Shane Sutton, who is said to have insulted and discriminated against female cyclists and para-cyclists. There has been a divide between athletes, with some such as Laura Trott and Geraint Thomas backing their former coach, while world champion Lizzie Armistead, Nicole Cooke have supported the accusations from Jess Varnish. Sutton was initially suspended but then resigned from that position on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Team Sky has confirmed that controversial former British Cycling technical director Shane Sutton remains a consultant to the the team.
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"Shane has continued to be used by Team Sky in an occasional advisory role," Team Sky said in a statement. "Since he stepped down as head coach of Team Sky in January 2013, his occasional involvement as an advisor to Team Sky has been completely separate from his role with British Cycling. "Any reimbursement for his work with Team Sky has been funded by the team."
