Sutherland, the elite road coordinator for the Australian Cycling Team, speaking openly on the Detour podcast, didn’t mince his words when it came to pointing out what he saw as a loss of national pride within the national team set-up at present.
“The athletes lost that pride, I saw jerseys being pulled on like you were doing your day job,” said Sutherland. “It’s not what was there before and I’m not sure what changed that culture.
“We’re speaking specifically about road and the road world championship that passed, the successful teams and teamwork in those teams, the athletes were all performing above a level that you would expect of them. That last little piece is that pride in the national jersey, I’m backing my mate, backing the plan and committing to this rider that we’re excited about.”
Australia’s best-placed finisher in the road races at the world championships was Jarrad Drizners with 23rd in the men’s Under 23 road race after an aggressive ride, with Luke Plapp bagging the only medal for Australia, a silver in the Under 23 men’s time trial after a disrupted preparation with broken bones.
At the Olympics, it wasn’t outstanding either with the class of Rohan Dennis seeing the South Australian snag a bronze medal and Grace Brown finish just off the podium in fourth. Tiffany Cromwell was the top performer in the road race, finishing 26th.
On the track, the men’s pursuit team were the best with their own disrupted ride to the bronze medal, with Logan Martin in the BMX Freestyle the lone gold medallist in the relatively solitary pursuit of the discipline in which he coaches himself.
“I’m not putting this on any one team, but there’s this privileged attitude that some have got, that we’re the best at what we’re doing,” said Sutherland. “The reality is that we’re not because if we were, we’d be winning everything.”
“Working specifically with some of the Under 23s going to worlds was something that I didn’t think I was going to get as much out of as I was going to get. It was eye-opening how down-to-earth and passionate they were with nothing, rather than turning up with their nice cars and nice watches and going into a bike race.”
Some of the issues within Australian cycling surround that next generation, and while there are riders with top-end talent, there is depth when there are problems, or depth that provides competition for places in the team. It’s an issue that Sutherland laid at the feet of the death of the road development teams and pathways, one of the iniatives of Simon Jones, the former head of High Performance at Auscycling, who opted instead for a hyper focus on track events for the Olympics.
“Who’s the stream coming through? We didn’t start a woman in the time trial, or the men’s time trial because we didn’t have any one,” said Sutherland. “No one put their hand up and we didn’t have any one that’s come through the state systems and institutions that needs to move forward.
“In the women’s there wasn’t that fight because there aren’t the athletes. That’s not the fault of athletes that we have, it’s the development system that has been disrespected, the stream that we used to have like I came through, same for Caleb Ewan and Michael Matthews. We’re trying to rebuild that, but it can’t just be me and Donna, it has to be across the board.”
While Jones was not mentioned by name, Sutherland referred to the rebuilding of the development system that was dismantled under Jones and Cycling Australia before the reformation to AusCycling, as the way forward for the future for the elite level of the sport.
“Without pointing fingers – I don’t think that helps the process – from my side of things we need to rebuild the structure,” said Sutherland. “What has been taken away for whatever reason in the last few years. We need to find and rebuild the culture of Australian cyclists.
“I think it’s important that we focus on actually moving forward with a plan. Where that starts is with good communication, good people and the right decisions, and not being afraid to put your hand up and say ‘I don’t think that is correct’. But doing it in a constructive way.
“The easiest thing is to grab a scapegoat that’s not around any more and throw them under the bus. That’s a fairly standard reaction, which I think everyone has done.”
Despite laying out the problems, Sutherland was cautiously optimistic for Australian performances in the home world championships in Wollongong next year and at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. However, the real determining factor of the future of Australian cycling will come below the top level, with riders being developed to replace the current greats of the Australian scene.
“We have to be patient, it’s not a ‘click the fingers’ thing,” said Sutherland. “Development and rebuilding takes time. I know there are a lot of people throwing a lot of stones in Australia, I think they have the right to do that, but there is a constructive way to do that.
“There is positive change and we’re trying to create it, but if we keep on having stones thrown at us all the way through then are we going to stop doing it?”
