The man who guided Britain's cyclists to a record haul of 14 medals in Beijing,  including eight gold, with an average of almost one medal per athlete in a 14-strong track cycling team was commenting after UK Sport also slashed its payments to other successful Olympic sports including rowing, sailing and swimming.

British Cycling will now receive £26.3 million in the build-up rather than the £26.9 originally announced as Britain's minor Olympic sports, like handball and volleyball, received a massive cash boost by having their funding doubled.

Brailsford said: "A funding reduction like this just two-and-a-half years prior to the Olympics is a real disappointment.

"We've done our planning based on the original figures [announced after Beijing].

"It's fair to say that the reduction in resources will have a material impact on the programme, which could influence performance."

Brailsford fears that one of the aims of the successful London Olympic bid - to have British athletes participate in all sports - and the subsequent new investment in disciplines such as handball, volleyball and wrestling, could result in more successful sports such as cycling seeing their medal totals suffer.

He said: "I understand and support UK Sport's position in increasing funding for some of the smaller sports.

"But it's a shame it's come at the expense of those with a track record of delivering medals.

"I had always been led to believe funding was based on a meritocratic system.

"But if we're moving to a 'have-a-go' Olympics we'll have to go with it.

"I think there has to be more clarity in the funding policy."


Related stories
December 2009: Boxing disappointed new funding falls short of target
December 2009: Minor sports winner as funding for Olympics doubled