Frence's track cycling coach has called for a change to the rules after Team GB's Philip Hindes appeared to admit deliberately crashing to help secure gold for Britain on Thursday night.

Florian Rousseau said that, whilst Britain deserved the overall win after a world record-breaking final at the Velodrome, cycling's international governing body must now re-examine its regulations to prevent future controversy blighting the sport.

His comments followed German-born rider Hindes, 19, confessing that his fall during a qualifying round of the men's team sprint was designed to give the team a second chance after a poor start.

The International Cycling Union (ICU) confirmed the result was legitimate and Britain went on to seize gold ahead of France. As it stands, there is no rule to govern the incident and no appeal is possible.

Rousseau was content with the final outcome but said Hindes' performance was not in the Olympic spirit.

He said: "There was no cheating. The British team was much stronger than the French team and I congratulate them on their success.

"However, I do think the rules need to be more precise so we don't find ourselves in an identical situation at another Olympic Games.

"The fact that he (Hindes) did it on purpose is not very good for the image of cycling. We must reflect on how we can adapt the rules so that does not happen again in future."