British Cycling: Early end to HSBC sponsorship deal with not impact Team GB, insists boss

HSBC’s decision to end its multi-million pound sponsorship of British Cycling four years early will have no impact on the Great Britain team as they step up preparations for Tokyo 2020, performance director Stephen Park has said.

HSBC and British Cycling announced on Tuesday that the bank will exercise a break clause to end its partnership – worth a reported £20million in total – midway through its original eight-year agreement, bringing it to an end on December 31 this year.

The bank notified British Cycling of its decision at the end of last year, but riders and staff were not told until this week, on the eve of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships which get under way in Berlin on Wednesday – the final major competition before the Tokyo Olympics.

Park admitted the timing was not ideal but said it would have no impact.

“From a performance view, would it be better to have the announcement next week or the week after? Yes, but unfortunately you can’t control all these things,” Park told the PA news agency.

“But it’s not a massive impact on our programme, it’s not an impact on this event, and it’s not a huge impact on what we’re doing between now and Tokyo...

“That’s primarily underwritten by the world-class program and UK Sport.”

Last week HSBC announced it would cut around 35,000 jobs across the globe after profits fell by a third.

The bank had wanted to wait until that announcement had been made before disclosing the decision to end its partnership with British Cycling, but making the information public now allows the governing body to step up efforts to find a replacement partner for 2021 onwards.

Both parties insist HSBC’s decision is unrelated to the controversy surrounding former British Cycling doctor Richard Freeman, who is the subject of an ongoing medical tribunal.

Freeman faces being struck off by the General Medical Council after accepting 18 of 22 charges against him, including ordering testosterone and lying about it to UK Anti-Doping, but has denied ordering it knowing or believing it was intended to enhance an athlete’s performance.

The investigation centres on events which took place before HSBC’s partnership began, but former rider Callum Skinner – who won team sprint gold at the Rio Olympics – questioned whether British Cycling’s handling of recent problems was playing a role.

“This will obviously pose a major challenge and it will be gutting if valuable frontline work is cut as a result of this,” he wrote on Twitter after the announcement.

“Weak leadership in dealing with historical and present-day issues could have cost the sport millions.”

HSBC’s exit presents a significant concern as British Cycling announced a financial loss last year.

In a statement, chief executive Julie Harrington said: “On course to get over two million people cycling regularly, British Cycling’s partnership with HSBC UK has delivered lasting benefits for our sport and for communities up and down the country.

“We will part with HSBC UK as firm friends and, in the meantime, look forward to working with them to support our riders to achieve their best in Tokyo.

“We are an ambitious organisation with a proud tradition of setting and hitting big targets and we know that more people on bikes is the solution to many of society’s biggest challenges.

“As we look to 2021, we will be actively engaging the market to find a new partner to be part of the next stage of our exciting journey.”

HSBC’s chief executive Ian Stuart said: “We wanted this partnership to create a legacy and it has. It has changed the way we approach things as a company as we encourage our customers and our colleagues to make healthier and greener choices.

“2020 will be an exciting year for the sport, with Britain willing on our athletes to medals in Tokyo. It’s been a privilege to be involved in building the grassroots of a sport with such a fantastic future.”