Simon Jones is familiar with success and gold medals. During his tenure with British Cycling and Team Sky through various roles, the 47-year-old helped build sustained success. When he was appointed as Cycling Australia's head of high performance in April, it was relatively headline free. A prosperous Track Worlds in Hong Kong with 11 medals for Australia helped in moving on from the Rio Olympics and suggested a new era was dawning.
The UCI Road World Championships, though, was a different kettle of fish, with the controversial decision to fill only five of the seven places the women's team had qualified for. Chloe Hosking and Rachel Neylan successfully appealed the selection, with the controversy raising questions of claims of sexism and favouritism.
Jones explained the decision was purely performance related, and with Cycling Australia's reduced budget, it is a sign of how he will steer the ship. While the women's team enjoyed success with Katrin Garfoot winning silver in the time trial and road race, Jones has no regrets regarding the selection and promises more hard decisions under his tenure.
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"I knew we needed some disruption and we've not finished yet," Jones told Cyclingews at Cycling Australia's HPU centre in Adelaide. "When there is change there is challenge, isn't there? I think Bergen worked out brilliantly, to be honest. Great results. I don't mind rattling the cage a little bit and like I said, we need to be conformable being uncomfortable. I've not ever worked in a high-performing team that hasn't felt uncomfortable. I've not seen a system that is comfortable being successful. I wasn't too surprised, to be honest."
Jones' 'rattling of the cage' extends into the federation's new HPU strategy of winning four to six cycling gold medals at the Tokyo Olympic Games. And to achieve the long-term goals, Jones' remit extends to the 2024 Olympic Games, the Briton is laying the groundwork, even if that includes unpopular decisions such as fielding a reduced squad for the 2018 Track World Championships.
"There is no entitlement here. We get given government money, taxpayers money to do a job, and that is the overarching driver here. But we need to make sure that we have shared ambitions with the organisation and athletes having a real close match. It was quite a big decision but there is an end game decision here and that is what the priority is here and like I said, if I was trying to please everybody in this job, I wouldn't be doing my job. I am here for the bigger picture and overall organisation goals. That is the bit I am really responsible for."
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