Brailsford says 'lessons to be learned' in wake of British Cycling review

Sir Dave Brailsford has said that it is always a challenge to find the balance between pushing athletes and supporting them, but conceded that lessons would be learned from the Independent Review into the Climate and Culture of the World Class Programme at British Cycling.

Brailsford himself is mentioned several times within the report.

The panel was told that from 2009 until prior to 2012, the then performance director attended the Manchester Track Centre less frequently as a result of his commitments to Team Sky, and this dual role was highlighted as being an issue in two reviews carried out by Deloitte at the instigation of UK Sport.

The Independent Review makes reference to a breakdown in relationship between Brailsford and UK Sport as a result of the Deloitte report’s findings.  

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The review also concluded that there had been a ‘culture of fear’ at times during Brailsford’s tenure. Speaking to Sky Sports about that finding, he responded: "It was disappointing, if I am honest. High-performance sport is a tough environment, there is no doubt about it, but it doesn't mean to say you have to neglect the welfare of athletes in any way.”

He went on to imply that there could sometimes be issues when simultaneously trying to push athletes and support them.

"It is an environment where you are trying to get the best to be the best and beat the best in the world. Not everybody can do that.

"When we started out at British Cycling, we had won one gold medal in 76 years and, three or four Olympic cycles later, we're dominating the sport and have done it time and time again.

"Something has to happen, for that to happen. You do have to create a winning culture and a winning mentality and that is what we tried to do and, at times, we have to push people really hard, you get pushed really hard yourself, but you want to be supportive with that – and of course not everybody can make it and that is a challenge as well.”

Speaking of his own influence, he said: "As in all walks of life, you have always got to look at yourself first, if you are the leader of an organisation

"You have got to look at yourself in the mirror and take your own responsibility, and my frame of reference will always be to start with myself and think 'could I have done anything differently, is there anything I could learn from that, and what can I do going forward to make sure that I get better?'

"There are some lessons to be learned but I am very proud of our time at British Cycling and to see how the sport has grown."