British Cycling says it was not aware that Shane Sutton had also been receiving a retainer from Team Sky while working as its technical director. Sutton was formerly Team Sky head coach but stood down from that role in January 2013 when he took on a full-time position at British Cycling.

Earlier in the week, British Cycling chief Ian Drake had told the BBC that Sutton was not getting paid by Team Sky, but this, it seems, was not the case.

A statement from Sky said:

“Shane has continued to be used by Team Sky in an occasional advisory role, focusing on the tactical and technical aspects of road racing. Since he stepped down as head coach of Team Sky in January 2013 his occasional involvement as an adviser 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.”

British Cycling has since confirmed that it was not aware of this, claiming that Sutton did not declare the consultancy role when he took on the position of British Cycling technical director in 2014.

UK Sport has also said that senior staff were unaware of Sutton’s Team Sky payment.

Sutton resigned from British Cycling on Wednesday after finding himself at the centre of an ongoing discrimination row. His departure was then followed by the news that UK Sport had asked the organisation to investigate online sales of GB kit. Despite this, Drake has claimed that the governing body is not in crisis.