British Cycling confirms men's endurance coach Heiko Salzwedel has left

British Cycling has confirmed the departure of men’s endurance coach Heiko Salzwedel, more than two months after he was reportedly escorted out of the National Cycling Centre in Manchester.

The national governing body did not comment at the time on reports that the German national had been told to leave the building inb October following a meeting with head coach Iain Dyer and performance director Stephen Park.

> GB men’s endurance coach allegedly escorted from Manchester velodrome amid rumours of sacking

Telegraph Sport suggested at the time that British Cycling did not provide a comment then since the issue was being dealt with by the respective parties’ lawyers.

In a brief statement today, British Cycling confirmed that Salzwedel was no longer employed by the organisation. It said:

British Cycling can confirm that Heiko Salzwedel has left his position as men’s endurance coach for the Great Britain Cycling Team.

Heiko, who coached the team to an Olympic gold medal in the men’s team pursuit in Rio, departs with the best wishes and thanks of everyone at British Cycling.

It was his third spell with British Cycling, where the 50-year-old had previously worked between 2000 and 2002, including as performance manager, and from 2008 to 2012.

He rejoined the organisation in late 2012 with responsoibility for the men’s endurance programme, but was reported to have clashed with riders including Mark Cavendish, who was targeting gold in the Madison at Rio in 2016 but took silver behind Italy’s Elia Viviani.

Cavendish, who had ridden under Salzwedel early in his road career as part of T-Mobile’s development programme, was reserve rider for the team pursuit, which Team GB won, but did not ride in any of the rounds meaning he was ineligible for a gold medal.

Sir Bradley Wiggins, who secured the fifth Olympic gold medal of his career in the event, has said that part of his decision to return to the track was because he would be working alongside Sazwedel, who had been encouraged to rejoin British Cycling by former technical director, Shane Sutton.

In October, it was  reported that Salzwedel’s links to Wiggins and Sutton had been part of the reason for his apparent departure.