British Cycling announced Tuesday that HSBC UK will end its sponsorship with the federation prematurely after this Olympic and Paralympic cycle. According to a press release, the bank has decided to end the eight-year partnership agreement, citing "a change in UK marketing and partnership priorities." [The partnership between British Cycling and HSBC UK has delivered lasting benefits to our sport and communities across the country, with the goal of getting more than 2 million people to enjoy cycling regularly," said British Cycling's Chief Executive Julie Harrington said.

." We have built a firm friendship with HSBC UK and look forward to working with them to support our athletes as they give their best in Tokyo."

HSBC announced last week that it would cut 35,000 jobs after reporting a 33% drop in profits.

HSBC UK entered into a partnership with British Cycling in 2016 as part of an eight-year deal. Goals included getting 2 million people into cycling by the end of 2020, a figure British Cycling said it expects to exceed.

According to a press release, 525,000 people participated in the HSBC UK Let's Ride, HSBC UK Go Ride, HSBC UK Breeze, and HSBC UK Ready Set Ride in 2019.

"We are extremely proud of what our partnership has accomplished over the past three years and excited about what we can achieve this year," said Ian Stuart, HSBC UK Chief Executive Officer, in a press release, "As we embark on this journey together we wanted to bring cycling to 2 million people on a regular basis. [We] wanted this partnership to be a legacy. This partnership has changed the way we approach things as a company, encouraging our customers and colleagues to make healthier and greener choices. [2020] will be an exciting year for the sport. I am honored to be involved in the grassroots development of a sport that has such a great future."

British Cycling is proud to have former road racing world champions Mark Cavendish and Lizzie Deignan, Olympic gold medalists Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny, former Tour de France winners Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas, among others, make it one of the most competitive and successful cycling nations of the past two decades.

Recently, however, British Cycling has been the focus of two major high-profile and still pending cases in the Employment Tribunal and the General Medical Council (GMC).

Jess Varnish is fighting to be removed from the High Performance Program and declared an employee of British Cycling or UK Sport before the 2016 Rio Olympics.

She also accused then technical director Shane Sutton of sexism and discrimination, leading first to an internal investigation and then to an independent investigation into the federation's culture. Sutton resigned from his position at the federation and was later cleared of eight of the nine allegations.

Varnish would head back to court in May after the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that she had a full right to appeal the Federation's decision.

In addition, there have been repeated delays in the tribunal hearing (open in new tab) to determine whether Richard Freeman, former doctor for British Cycling and Team Sky, is fit to practise medicine. Freeman has admitted to 18 of the 22 allegations, including the 2011 Testogel order, but has disputed the allegations surrounding the delivery of testosterone to Team Sky and British Cycling HQ that same year

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British Cycling did not mention either case as a reason for the loss of sponsorship, but that HSBC UK had decided to exercise the break clause due to "changing UK marketing and partnership priorities" and that it and HSBC UK were "firm friends" He clarified that the partnership as a

Harrington said British Cycling will begin exploring new partnerships to replace HSBC UK funding from 2021. [Over the last 20 years, British Cycling has had extraordinary success, both in winning on the global stage and in inspiring more people to cycle more often. [We are an ambitious organization and have a proud tradition of setting big goals and achieving them. And we know that getting more people on bikes is the solution to many of society's biggest challenges, and as we head into 2021, we will be actively reaching out to the marketplace to find new partners to join us on the next stage of our exciting journey. "