British Cycling was "driven by the funding requirements of success" – Cookson

Brian Cookson has given a strong hint that he believes UK Sport should take much of the responsibility for the cultural problems at British Cycling that were recently highlighted by the Annamarie Phelps-led independent review.

Cookson, who led British Cycling for 17 years before becoming UCI president in 2013, told the BBC that he didn’t accept there was a ‘culture of fear’ during his tenure but acknowledged there were problems.

Asked whether the buck had stopped with him, he said: “Partly, yes. British Cycling is a corporate organisation. I was president of the board.”

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However, he was also keen to emphasise the role played by the government funding body, UK Sport.

“On the other hand, the whole of [British Cycling] was scrutinised by UK Sport, was driven by the funding requirements of success…”

Asked whether he was “pinning some of the blame on UK Sport for driving that culture of success”, Cookson responded: “I think we all share some responsibility there – of course, yeah.”

Earlier this year, it was reported that senior figures at UK Sport were said to have told its in-house governance unit to “go easy” on British Cycling because “that’s where the medals come from.”

Responding to this, the organisation said: “Our no-compromise approach has never been about winning at all costs. Any sport, CEO or performance director who thinks otherwise has fundamentally missed the point. There is no place in our system for unethical or unprofessional conduct."

Cookson is currently campaigning to be re-elected for a second term as UCI president and recently elicited a tweet from Lance Armstrong proclaiming "ABC (Anybody But Cookson)".

Johan Bruyneel was of a similar mind, saying: “The same Brian Cookson who, for the benefit of getting elected, was on a mission to blame the past and promised being the Messiah...?”

"I'm happy that those people are not supporting me,” said Cookson. “I'd like to think that it's a sign I've been doing the right thing."

He added: "I suspect Lance thought he'd get a more sympathetic ear than seems to have been the case. But I don't want to reopen a dialogue or dispute with Lance Armstrong. He's got enough things going on in his legal case at the moment."