British Cycling independent review to be led by Annamarie Phelps

Shane Sutton has been accused of discrimination and bullying

The independent investigation into alleged discrimination and bullying within British Cycling will be led by the chair of British Rowing, Annamarie Phelps, it has been announced.

The review was jointly commissioned by British Cycling and UK Sport after Shane Sutton was accused of directing sexist comments towards Jess Varnish.

Sutton later resigned as British Cycling's performance director when further allegations emerged of discriminatory behaviour towards para-cyclists. He denies the claims.

Phelps, who is also vice-chair of the British Paralympic Association, will start the review "imminently" and not conclude it until after this summer's Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio.  

The review's terms of reference state that it "must include, but is not limited to, all forms of discrimination and bullying" and must investigate whether there are "fundamental behavioural issues within the climate and culture of British Cycling World Class Programme".

Sutton resigned as British Cycling performance director on Wednesday

The review will be separate from British Cycling's internal probe into the allegations against Sutton but the "lessons learnt by British Cycling from this separate investigation should be incorporated into the review".

Phelps must now appoint a review panel and their findings will be published by both British Cycling and UK Sport upon completion.

Meanwhile, the chief executive of British Cycling, Ian Drake, has insisted he was not aware of alleged bullying and discrimination within the organisation prior to this week's public accusations against Sutton.

British Cycling chief executive Ian Drake

Ian Braid, the chief executive of the British Athletes Commission, told the Daily Telegraph he forwarded complaints about a "culture of fear" within British Cycling to the national governing and said they were never acted upon.

However, Drake said: "I have never been made aware, formally or informally, of any allegation that Shane Sutton had used the offensive term 'gimps' in reference to Paralympic athletes prior to the media reports of the past few days.

"The suggestion that I would have not acted on such an allegation is wholly wrong."