Australian cycling prepares for shake-up as team falls further behind rivals Great Britain

AUSTRALIAN cycling is set for a full-scale review of its track program in the wake of a disastrous Rio Olympic campaign that was dominated by arch rival Great Britain.

Australian cycling can expect big changes after a dismal campaign in Rio

AUSTRALIAN cycling is set for a full-scale review of its track program in the wake of a disastrous Rio Olympic campaign that was dominated by arch rival Great Britain.

The Australians expected four or five medals on the velodrome but were seventh on the medal tally with a solitary silver and bronze as Team GB went top with six gold, four silver and one bronze.

“We’ve had one average week and it’s not a good time to have it,” Cycling Australia high performance manager Kevin Tabotta said.

Australian cycling can expect big changes after a dismal campaign in Rio

“We’re hurting, the athletes are hurting, we know the Australian public is hurting.

“But I want you to have faith in these athletes because they have delivered time and time again for Australia.

“We didn’t get it right here, what we can promise you is people aren’t going to go back and sit with their heads in their cereal bowls.

“We’ll be right on the case and trying to work out what the next steps are.”

Tabotta said the best athletes and coaches in Australia were in Rio, but he admitted the high performance program had got the overseas training camps in Los Angeles and Mexico and the taper period leading into the Games wrong.

CA also invested $1m in technology projects in search of marginal gains in bikes and equipment but their times were blown out of the water by the Brits.

Anna Meares was shattered after losing her race in the women’s sprint. Pic Adam Head

“You really have to nail your taper and preparation, and obviously we haven’t,” he said.

“Clearly one nation moved ahead of the rest and made some significant gains in a short period and we weren’t able to match that.

“Great Britain has been the masters of being on world level at world championships and within four months stepping (up) at a rate that is two to three times any other nation.

“That’s what they’ve done in the last three cycles, I’m sure there are performance directors and coaches out there that would love to have the blueprint, they’ve (GB) got it and have used it to great affect.

“We need to master an August peak and we haven’t nailed that yet.”

It could mean CA throws out its playbook in the lead up to Tokyo 2020 and instead of trying to peak for world championships every year in order to meet national ‘winning edge’ funding targets, may instead focus on firing in line with the Olympic cycle.

Great Britain have dominated the cycling in Rio

Tabotta said since 2009 the Australian team had performed on or above the ‘winning edge’ targets at world championships.

But in the past three Olympics in Beijing, London and Rio across all cycling disciplines they have won just one gold, four silver and four bronze, with BMX and mountain bike still to come this week.

“And if there’s anything in that message it’s sometimes you have to go slower to go faster,” Tabotta said.

“If we’re consistently going after world championships each year to maintain funding levels for athletes and (to make sure they) are in a financial position to keep pursuing the sport ... it may take us to actually take a step back and really take a thrust into an Olympic Games from a couple of years out.”

But Tabotta stopped short of blaming Great Britain’s superior lottery funding or greater population for its dominance.

Rio Day 10: Aussies at the 2016 Olympics

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“We’re a very well funded program with some great athletes and coaches, and we make no excuses about our performances here,” he said.

“Our athletes are really busting their backsides to be at the top level, so we need to look deeper as to why we haven’t moved from March to August at the same rate particularly as Great Britain.

“We just have to find a way to deal with the AIS and athletes to see how we can ramp into an Olympic Games, manage expectations and be happy with fourths and thirds (at world titles) along the way, knowing our athletes will be supported on the way through to gold.”

As Team GB’s dominance on the Rio velodrome continued yesterday, Australian star Anna Meares moved to clarify her comments the previous day when she questioned how they had improved so dramatically since the world championships in March.

Meares said she never insinuated that GB was cheating or had done anything wrong.

“What I said was it makes me scratch my head how we can be better (sic) competitive with them at the Olympics,” Meares wrote on Twitter.

German Kristina Vogel also questioned Britain’s dominance but after beating Becky James for gold in the sprint yesterday said she never accused them of any wrongdoing.

“I don’t say they’re taking any drugs or they have a bike with an engine,” Vogel said.

“I’m just saying we’re wondering that they’re always that f****** (good) at the Games – nothing else.”

Originally published as Australian cycling prepares for shake-up as team falls further behind rivals Great Britain