British Cycling

The merged organisation became the British Cycling Federation. It accepted racing on the open road[5] and controlled all competitive cycling other than time-trialling, which remained with the RTTC. Cyclo-cross was administered by the British Cyclo-Cross Association, which was linked to the BCF. The BCF was recognised by the UCI. The first officials were perceived to be drawn largely from the NCU and there was bitterness among supporters of the former BLRC that they had been betrayed.[4]

The BCF had offices in central London. The first were in the headquarters of the Sports Council in Park Crescent, near Hyde Park. They subsequently moved to other London premises on Brompton Road and Upper Woburn Place, before moving out of the capital to Rockingham Road, Kettering, Northamptonshire in 1988,[6] and finally to the velodrome in Manchester.

The British Cycling Federation was renamed simply British Cycling after it merged with the British Cyclo-Cross Association, the British Mountain Bike Federation, the English BMX Association and the British Cycle Speedway Council. Each is now a commission within the BCF.

In 1996, the BCF incurred large debts as a result of a legal dispute with Tony Doyle, who resigned from his position as President of the Federation shortly after its Board attempted to remove him.[7][8] Doyle had been elected to the Presidency in late 1995 on a platform of increasing transparency and accountability in the Federation: the campaign to remove him was based on claims that he had failed to declare his role as a consultant to a company that wanted to act as the promoter for the 1996 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester. In December 1996, the report of auditors from the UK Sports Council into the Federation's finances and management found that there were serious shortcomings in its procedures for accounting and control of finances and potential conflicts of interests between board members and leading companies in the cycling sector. The board were then removed by the membership and replaced with an emergency management committee. As a result of the report, Minister for Sport Iain Sproat warned that the BCF's Sports Council grants could be withdrawn and that it could be banned from applying for Lottery money.[9] Brian Cookson was elected as President soon afterwards: he described the organisation's situation at the time as "close to bankruptcy, 14,000 members and falling, one Olympic gold in 76 years and not much else to show. It was pretty dire".[10]

In December 1997, British Cycling appointed Peter Keen as its Performance Director, with initial responsibility for £900,000 of funding granted by the UK Sports Council on the basis of a one-year interim World Class Performance Plan. He was chosen ahead of Steve Paulding and Paul Sherwen. Keen immediately outlined the focus of the Plan, emphasising that it would mainly be aimed at targeting track cycling due to the large number of Olympic medals on offer. He spent much of the next year developing an eight-year plan to secure longer-term funding: in January 1999 it was announced that British Cycling had secured lottery funding for six years, with an award of £2.5 million for the first year.[7] Later that year, the GB team sprint squad took the first British sprint medal at a World Championship for 40 years at the Berlin Track Worlds.

The first fruits of the programme were harvested at the 2000 Summer Olympics: on the track, Team GB took two bronzes, a silver and a gold medal, the latter of which was taken by Jason Queally in the 1 km time trial. Following the Games, Keen started speaking publicly about what Britain needed to do to become the world number one nation in track cycling. The team backed up their Olympic success at the subsequent 2000 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on home ground in Manchester by winning five medals, including a first world title for Yvonne McGregor in the individual pursuit.[7]

From 2001 to the present day, British cycling has greatly improved its standing in world track cycling and is now considered a dominant force in cycling. In 2001, two key members of staff were appointed, with Dave Brailsford becoming Performance Director for the World Class Performance Programme and Heiko Salzwedel joining as National Track Manager. In July 2002 the Talent Team programme was launched, which aimed to discover new riders through working with schools:[7] riders identified through the initiative who have enjoyed success at the highest level include Dani Rowe, Laura Kenny, Peter Kennaugh, Elinor Barker and Lizzie Deignan.[11][12] After a disappointing performance at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, the squad bounced back at the Track World Championships, where they finished second in the medal table with three gold medals. That year also saw the appointment of Shane Sutton in Manchester, having previously been Welsh national coach.[7]

In 2003, the first six riders joined British Cycling's new Olympic Academy for junior riders, under the leadership of Rod Ellingworth, with a budget of £100,000 for the first year. Among the first cohort were Ed Clancy and Mark Cavendish, although the latter was almost passed over due to his relatively poor performance in lab tests, with coaches Ellingworth, John Herety and Simon Lillistone lobbying Keen to include him due to his potential.[7][13] The Academy used a training base in Tuscany from 2006 to 2010, and has since returned to Italy, basing itself in Montichiari since 2016. Other notable riders who participated in the Academy programme include Kennaugh, Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift and Simon Yates.[14] That year Keen left his role, whilst continuing to work with British Cycling in a consultancy capacity until the 2004 Summer Olympics: Brailsford was appointed as his replacement.[7]

At the 2004 Athens Olympics cycling events, Great Britain came third in the medal table: they took two golds, a silver and a bronze, with Bradley Wiggins taking one medal of each colour - the first British Olympian to do this in 40 years. Brailsford gave much of the credit for the team's results to the psychiatrist Steve Peters, who had started working with the squad.[7] From 2004 to 2009, it came top of the medals tally for three out of six UCI Track Cycling World Championships.

The team is noted for its distinctive high performance equipment. From the early days of Keen's tenure, they worked with outside firms to produce more aerodynamic bicycles and bicycle parts. They started using their own Sport Institute bicycles in 2002, and subsequently Chris Boardman played a key role in redesigning equipment and clothing to maximise efficiency.[7] British Cycling continues to work with NASA, McLaren Group and many other organisations to improve track speeds. In the late 2000s, the team consisted of riders as Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Bradley Wiggins, and Rebecca Romero.

This success has continued in road racing with riders such as Nicole Cooke and Mark Cavendish. British cycling has also formed a professional cycling team with BSkyB as the main sponsor and Bradley Wiggins as the team leader and David Brailsford as the manager. In 2012, Bradley Wiggins became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France. This was followed the next year when Chris Froome won the 2013 Tour de France. Team Sky is registered as a UCI ProTeam. Recent years have also seen British dominance in downhill mountain biking, in both the Downhill World Cup and Downhill World Championships. In 2014, all three female podium positions, and the top two male positions, in the Downhill World Championships were taken by British athletes.

BSkyB sponsored British Cycling from 2008 to 2016.

HSBC is British Cycling's Lead Partner for the period 2017 to 2024.[15]

British Cycling represents the cycling associations of British overseas territories in the UCI, if they are not themselves UCI members.

The Gibraltar Cycling Association is the regional governing body for Gibraltar.

Riders in this programme are expected to be seasoned world-class performers with a track record of success at the highest level. Athletes are full-time on the programme and generally based near the team's Manchester HQ. Athletes may also be members of professional (trade) teams, receiving additional support from the programme.[19] Athletes on this programme include Olympic champions Jason Kenny, Laura Trott and Philip Hindes as well as Tour de France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins.

Riders aged typically 18 to 23 and exceptional athletes with the clear potential to become world-class performers. The programme aims to add the final technical polish, whilst building up training loads to those likely to be experienced by the senior elite athletes.[20]

Riders aged typically 16 to 18, who are already experienced and focused on a career in professional cycling. The programme aims to add technical experience, including experience of preparing for major (junior) championships, plus conditioning. Athletes are typically still in education and focus on intense training camps, whilst still living at home.[21]

A regionally based programme aimed at finding talented young riders, typically aged 14–16 and preparing them for transition to the higher programmes.[22]

Athletes competing in four disability categories, primarily in track, road-race and time-trial disciplines.[23]

• British Cycling YouTube channel
• Everyday Cycling YouTube channel