The Great Britain cycling team head, Shane Sutton, has said he would like to see Sir Chris Hoy extend the mentoring role that he has occasionally adopted within the team. The multiple Olympic gold medallist was with the team on the Friday and Saturday of this weekend’s Track World Cup, and Sutton hopes he will remain involved through to Rio 2016.
Hoy was the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2008 after taking a hat-trick of gold medals in Beijing, and retired after landing a further brace of golds at London 2012. He is currently involved in motor racing and has a cycle company and he recently became a father for the first time, but he found time to accompany Great Britain to the world championship in Cali and will be present at the World’s in Paris next February.
“He is such an iconic figure, just having him there makes a difference, not just in the things he says, but in his presence,” said Sutton, who also feels that, having been largely self-coached in his early days, Hoy could move into coaching if he wished and his commitments permitted. He has apparently played something of a mentoring role to Philip Hindes in the two years since London. “Philip has been on the best form of any of the team, which says something,” is Sutton’s verdict.
Sutton, who took over from Sir Dave Brailsford in April, said that, while he felt the four gold medals won by Great Britain over the weekend in London were a good pointer towards Rio, the team’s sprinters had underperformed. On Sunday their last medal hope went west late on when Jess Varnish finished fifth in the keirin.
“It’s a concern. Let’s not hide behind the fact people have been ill. I believe you turn up here and you pull on the jersey and you put the number on and you perform. I think Jason [Kenny] will be quietly happy with his performances and he is the big player here. Jason made the final of the keirin; anything can happen there and the fact he had been ill, he won’t have the legs in the final but at the end of the day he had the number on and he’ll be disappointed with that.”
Sutton had been hoping to see Callum Skinner cement his claim to Hoy’s old place in man three in the team sprint but the Scot was hit by the lurgy which affected his team-mates. “The man three spot is still open. The guys came away from Mexico with a good win, against very good opposition. They came here trying to perform and Callum didn’t get the result he wanted. If he can put himself back into the shape he was in Mexico over the next few weeks, then hopefully he may get the nod for the worlds.
“It’s interesting. You remove the word team and it’s three individuals coming together collectively to try and deliver a performance. If you look at somebody like Phil Hindes, until this weekend he has been the best track rider that we’ve had. He’s continued to clock [17]-threes and twos for the last two seasons without reward. It’s tough to continue going day in, day out and being the best you can be when you’re not getting any return. Phil, like all of us, works on the four-year cycle. He knows it will happen sooner rather than later.”
