British Cycling under further scrutiny as UK Sport want investigation into high-performance equipment for sale online

Screengrabs appeared to show Team GB cycling equipment worth up to £10,000 being sold to the highest bidder

Team GB's Dani King, Laura Trott, and Joanna Rowsell race to victory and set a new world record in the Women's Team Pursuit Track Cycling Finals at London 2012 (Getty)

UK Sport has instructed British Cycling to investigate claims that equipment has been made for sale on auction websites.

British Cycling personnel are understood to have met on Tuesday morning to address claims that high-performance kit, including skinsuits and bikes worth in the region of £10,000, have been made available for sale to the highest bidder.

A further meeting was expected to take place on Thursday.

The claims were made in the week Shane Sutton resigned as technical director following allegations of discrimination towards Jess Varnish and para-cycling riders.

Mr Sutton denies the allegations and will take part in an independent review set up by British Cycling and UK Sport, the funding body that distributes lottery cash to Olympic and Paralympic sports.

UK Sport has invested £30.5m into British Cycling for 2013-2017, governing the Rio Olympics, which open in 99 days’ time, and the Paralympics.

Now the umbrella body wants answers over the allegations kit has apparently been made for sale.

A statement from UK Sport read: "UK Sport has asked British Cycling to investigate these allegations as a matter of urgency as it is vital we protect our investment in all sports on the world-class programme.

"It is not appropriate to speculate or comment further until the investigation is completed."

British Cycling is to investigate whether the kit shown for sale in screengrabs once belonged to the governing body, whether it was stolen or out of date. The kit may no longer have been of use to the team due to a change of sponsor, for example.

The claims place further scrutiny on British Cycling and the National Cycling Centre, known as the "Medal Factory", due to the successes of the squad.

Shane Sutton (right) resigned from British Cycling on Wednesday (Getty)

Mr Sutton was suspended by British Cycling on Tuesday after it was claimed he called Paralympic cyclists "gimps", shortly after the governing body had announced an independent review into claims of sexism made by Jess Varnish.

He quit on Wednesday, but is still employed by Team Sky.

The British team, run by former British Cycling performance director Sir Dave Brailsford, said Mr Sutton's consultancy position had not been a secret. Team Sky would not disclose his remuneration.

"Shane has continued to be used by Team Sky in an occasional advisory role," a statement from Team Sky read.

"Since he stepped down as head coach of Team Sky in January 2013, his occasional involvement as an advisor to Team Sky has been completely separate from his role with British Cycling.

"Any reimbursement for his work with Team Sky has been funded by the team."

PA