There’s always a lot of discussion about the selection of the Australian Road World Championships squad, and the scrutiny is tenfold going into the Wollongong home worlds.
The AusCycling press conference was held with Jesse Korf, Executive General Manager of the Australian Cycling Team, and Rory Sutherland, Elite Road Coordinator.
Sutherland fielded more questions of the pair as Korf encountered internet issues on site at the UCI MTB World Championships, with the former professional also offering more transparent answers to the journalists' questions.
While there were specifics around Caleb Ewan’s non-selection (poor performance, course not to suit) and other riders, this article will focus on the major points that have arisen from the selections and the conversation with the team management.
For full team details click on the article below.
Lack of Australian Team Culture last year, now 'moving in the right direction'
The most surprising outcome at the world championships in Flanders last year was not so much the lack of medals and rainbow jerseys, but the scathing assessment of the team culture that came from Sutherland, in place for his first world championships.
“The athletes lost that pride, I saw jerseys being pulled on like you were doing your day job,” Sutherland said at the time. “It’s not what was there before and I’m not sure what changed that culture.
“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. The reality is that we’re not because if we were, we’d be winning everything.”
Sutherland wasn’t walking back those comments in the press conference, but talked about the positives that had come out of the frank assessment and the progress that has since been made.
“Last year was interesting, it was something that I hadn’t seen in the culture of the Australian cycling team,” Sutherland said. “What it did do was generate a conversation – all professional men and women cyclists – that we need to come together more.
“I think a perfect example of this is what we saw at the Commonwealth Games women’s road race. The work that goes on behind the scenes – I don’t expect to get credit for it, neither do the DSs, neither does Jesse – is to rebuild the culture and the pride of wearing that green and gold.
“How that women’s team raced at the Commonwealth Games, they were 100 per cent selfless and there for each other. To me, it shows that we’re moving in that right direction.”
Under-23 women’s split priorities a literal non-starter
There were no Under-23 women selected in the women’s team, with the race-within-a-race nature of the event putting the Australian selectors off picking the likes of Sarah Gigante or Neve Bradbury, though there were discussed concerns around Gigante’s nomination.
“I’ve had a lot of contact with Sarah, I see her every 2-3 weeks in Spain and have a lot of contact with her and the other athletes,” Sutherland said.
“Sarah in particular has had a tricky year with a lot of ups and downs but at the end of the day we have to base things off performance and the (selection) policy as well.”
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Gigante moves to Movistar
The appointment of Sutherland last year as elite road coordinator has promoted more communication between the Australian Cycling Team and its athletes, and the feedback provided in conversation with the professional women’s ‘roundtable’ generated talk around the split focus of riding for both the Under-23 and elite titles.
Australian riders have more knowledge than most of this Under-23 race with the elite competition, as that is how racing is run at nationals, with some teams competing for the elites and others more focused on the Under-23 title.
“The complications when it comes to putting a category inside a category is whether it splits the goals and the unity of what you’re trying to do in the group,” Sutherland said.
“We have a roundtable of all professional women’s cyclists that I set up and we get together in Europe and we talk about these things and how it’s going to affect the performance outcome.
“That [the U-23 race] is definitely something that came up. You want to go for everything, but you have to ask how it affects the main goal of winning the elite women’s road race.”
Selection Gripes
Everyone has their favourite riders, and world championships selection announcements are often a target to pile on over certain choices.
This team is a good one; Grace Brown, Alex Manly and Michael Matthews were the riders mentioned specifically as leaders for the team and they will be good focal points for the respective road race teams.
In the past, there have clearly been missteps at times in the process, but the addition of Sutherland has at least seen a greater connection with the athletes.
I’ve talked with Australian WorldTour riders in recent seasons who have received zero communication from the selection panel when making decisions about major events; they find out in the media like the rest of us. So that’s a positive step for certain and it also gives a bit more transparency, with Sutherland able to talk about decisions like the one to leave out Gigante.
I’m sure there are plenty of people who can mount a case for other riders to be in the squad - feel free to name them in the social media comments on the article. I’ll name my two glaring omissions, both from the women’s squad, Neve Bradbury and Georgie Howe.
Bradbury arguably has two of the best results from the Australian contingent in 2022, the 20-year-old rising star of the sport was 10th overall at the Giro Donne and 5th at the Scandinavian Tour, both WorldTour races. She would also be at home on the climbs of Mt Pleasant, and it would be a good chance to build towards future championships, where Bradbury could lead a team.
Georgie Howe would have been a free selection, she’s qualified on top of the two athlete time trial quota given to all nations with her Oceania Championships win this year.
A former rower who made it her goal this year to make it to the home worlds after a very impressive jump from nowhere to hot prospect in the Australian summer, she also did well in Europe when she journeyed overseas.
She finished fourth overall in the Baloise Belgium Tour, a very tough 2.1 UCI-rated event, including fifth in the time trial where she was only beaten by reigning TT world champion Ellen van Dijk, Olympic gold medallist in the team pursuit, Mieke Kroger, six-time French champion Audrey Cordon-Ragot and one of the world’s best cyclists in Lorena Wiebes.
If you can keep that company, you’re not going to embarrass yourself at the world championships and Howe is a rider, like Bradbury, who could be a leader in the future and would gain valuable experience in the elite environment.
