The Guardian understands that Sir Dave Brailsford is to change roles at British Cycling, leaving the job of performance director and effectively bringing to a close one of the most successful reigns at the head of any British Olympic squad, with his Team Sky management duties now set to be his principal focus.

Brailsford's 10-year spell at the helm of the British Olympic cycling squad culminated in the team's triumphs at the Beijing and London Games, and in Mark Cavendish's world professional road race title in 2011. British Cycling declined to comment on possible management changes, although a spokesman said that the review process begun after February's world track championships in Cali, Colombia, remained ongoing. Brailsford was not available for comment.

As he had previously hinted he might, Brailsford is set to focus on his duties at Team Sky, the men's professional offshoot of the Olympic squad which has won the last two Tours de France with Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. The close links between Sky and British Cycling – it includes several possibles for the team pursuit squad in Rio, most notably Peter Kennaugh and Geraint Thomas and shares a base with the Olympic squad in Manchester – make it possible for Brailsford to remain within reach of British Cycling to offer support as required and should ease the process of transition.

Sky's success, ironically, is the driving force behind Brailsford's decision, as he has found that Team Sky has become more demanding to manage as it has become ever more successful. Team Sky has not only got to defend Froome's Tour title, but the team is opening a performance centre in the south of France which could develop into a commercial venture; that too will take up Brailsford's time.

In the run-up to Cali, Brailsford himself had said that he felt the pressure of running Team Sky and British Cycling was proving too much for him, and had said he felt he might have to choose between the two. "That side of things [Sky] has got bigger, more global and certainly doesn't leave me a lot of time," he said. "The thing I am concerned about is to make sure the British cycling team is in the best possible shape it could be heading into Rio and that I feel that I'm contributing fully to make sure that happens.

"And that the appropriate structure is in place to make sure that happens. In other words, if I was occupying a space and for whatever reason I didn't feel I was optimising what I could do, then I would change my role so that someone could be maximising that particular part."

The most likely contender as a replacement for Brailsford at the head of the squad would be the current head coach, the Australian Shane Sutton, because two years out from the Rio Olympics those responsible for hiring a new leader would be unlikely to want to bring in an outsider who would have to learn from scratch how the squad functions.

Having joined Great Britain cycling in 2002, Sutton played a key lead role in the squad in the buildup to the Beijing Olympics and then the London Games after Brailsford became increasingly involved with Team Sky and he has continued to head up the day-to-day running of the squad since 2012. Another who could be set to gain greater responsibility during a reshuffle is Andy Harrison, former operations manager at the English Institute of Sport, who became Programmes Manager at British Cycling in March 2013, providing support for Sutton across the various programmes that make up the Olympic squad set-up.

Brailsford originally joined British Cycling in 1997 not long after Lottery funding began, initially because of his links with the cycle trade, but assuming greater responsibility under the then head Peter Keen before taking over as Performance Director when Keen moved on in 2003.

In what was possibly his master-stroke, before the Athens Games, Brailsford brought in Steve Peters, a forensic psychiatrist who had worked at Rampton hospital, to assist the likes of Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins with their mental build-up to competition. It is unclear what Peters's role will be once Brailsford departs - his responsibilities across other sports have grown since 2008 and he has just written a best-selling book, the Chimp Paradox .

It was under Brailsford, and with Peters's support, that the philosophy of "aggregation of marginal gains" - focusing on a multiplicity of areas for improvement to achieve big leaps forward - was taken to its ultimate expression. The upshot was dominance in both Beijing and London, with seven gold medals won in each Games, the climactic moments being Hoy's gold medal triple in China, and Wiggins's time-trial title in London. Both men went on to win Sports Personality of the Year.