alt CHRIS HOY (pictured) has been told by British Cycling that it is time to stop celebrating and cashing in on the three gold medals he won in Beijing earlier this year and to start concentrating on next year's World Championships, it was reported today.

 

Hoy's manager Ricky Cowan admitted that he had been summoned to Manchester to ask him to limit any more public appearances until after the World Championships in Poland in March.

 

Cowan told Scotland on Sunday in an article published today: "I was called down to Manchester to discuss Chris's training regime.

 

"He's very busy with training at the moment and he's also been doing filming for the Kellogg's advert."

"I've been told Chris needs to concentrate on his training now, and needs to cut back on what he's doing.

 

"What was okay two weeks ago has now been overruled by British Cycling, and the fact that he is competing and training with the team and individually is making things difficult."

 

Hoy, who now has a total of four Olympic gold medals having also won one in Athens in 2004, has reportedly signed at least eight new sponsorship deals with companies including Kellogg's, BT and Highland Spring, believed to be worth up to £2 million.

 

Max Clifford, the media guru who has been handling Hoy's publicity since Beijing, said: "You have got them [British Cycling] trying to stop him from doing these gigs because they have got so much influence on all the cyclists.

 

"We want to make sure that we maximise on his achievements.

 

"No one is pushing him.

 

"Training and cycling come first, even though the next Olympics are four years away.

 

"There's no conflict.

 

"We all understand the position, and cycling has to be number one."

Hoy confirmed to Scotland on Sunday that he would now concentrate on his cycling for the foreseeable future.

 

He said: "It's my own choice to do these exciting things and have fun post-Olympics, but now I've got to knuckle down and get back to training.

"I probably won't be doing any more publicity in the short term.

 

"I will be going back into cycling 100 per cent now.

 

"After the World Championships I will be able to do more.

"If you want to be the best, you can't do that if people are demanding your time for interviews or your sponsors want you to do something, because you can't concentrate on your training.

 

"I made a decision in terms of how much I think I can deal with, and I'm back into focusing on one thing."