SO, JUST WHO IS SHANE SUTTON?

WHAT IS HIS BACKGROUND?

AUSTRALIAN-BORN Sutton was a professional cyclist who won Commonwealth Gold in the 1978 team pursuit before moving to the UK in the 1980s. In 1987 he was part of the first British professional Tour de France team, ANC-Halfords.

WHAT WAS HIS ROLE AT BRITISH CYCLING?

SUTTON joined the GB cycling set-up in 2002 and became technical director in 2014. He quit in 2016 after allegations of discrimination and bullying by sprint cyclist Jess Varnish in a bombshell interview with Sportsmail. After her Olympic contract was terminated, Varnish claims Sutton told her she was too old at 25 and to ‘just move on and get on with having a baby’. Sutton was found to have used discriminatory language by British Cycling, but they upheld only one of nine charges — that he said the word ‘bitches’ to Varnish. In three Olympics with Sutton on board, British Cycling won 30 medals including 18 golds, followed by six golds in Rio shortly after his resignation.

AND TEAM SKY?

HE WAS head coach until 2013, but continued to receive a retainer of thousands of pounds a month for several years afterwards, unbeknown to British Cycling. Sutton oversaw the 2012 and 2013 Tour wins by Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome and in 2017 suggested that therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) were commonly used to ‘find gains’ for cyclists with minor injuries. In 2018, after Sportsmail had revealed a UKAD investigation into Team Sky over the ‘Jiffy bag’ scandal — in which an unknown substance was delivered to team officials and administered to Wiggins — Sutton called on ex-Sky doctor Richard Freeman and Wiggins to ‘tell the truth’.

WHY IS HE AT WAR WITH FREEMAN?

FREEMAN is accused by the GMC of ordering 30 Testogel sachets for an athlete in 2011, after Sportsmail revealed the delivery of the banned substance to the British Cycling Centre in Manchester. Freeman claims Sutton bullied him into ordering the sachets to treat the Australian’s alleged erectile dysfunction and yesterday labelled Sutton a ‘doper with a history of doping’ and a ‘habitual and serial liar’. Sutton denies all of Freeman’s claims and, before storming out yesterday, said he does not know why the Testogel was ordered.