October 27, 2006 – The resignation last week on October 18, of Eric Van Den Eynde as national coach of the Canadian national team seemed to spell controversy in the Canadian cycling milieu. It was last year in March that the Canadian Cycling Association (CCA) announced that Van den Eynde of St-Bruno, QC, had signed on for four more years as national coach. And after all, Van Den Eynde is resigning from the CCA to accept a presumably “lower grade” job with the Quebec provincial team. His resignation comes from certain differences in views between himself and the CCA.

“I resigned because I felt I’d be more useful in Quebec,” Van Den Eynde said, stating clearly that he is not at war with the CCA, au contraire. “The CCA will still be renting my expertise from the FQSC (Fédération québécoise des sports cyclistes).” The former national coach simply thinks he would not be the best man for the job, with the new orientation taken by the CCA.

The Australian Way

“They want to implement the Australian development program in Canada,” Van Den Eynde said. “I’m more a coach than an administrator, and my limitations in that field would have shown sooner or later. So I’ll head back to Quebec, where I’ll be closer to the athletes.”

The Australian way of developing cyclists starts from a generally acknowledged theory which suggests that talented road racers will make good track athletes, and vice versa. “For example, a good individual pursuit rider will win his fair share of ITTs on the road,” Van Den Eynde, the former racer-turned-coach, explained. “The same goes for sprinters, who are excellent in points races on the track. Gord Fraser is a good example here in Canada.”

Because Australian talent is often abroad, the Australian Federation has a deal with European team coaches to keep them informed of their in-season development. Therefore, the coaches are not always in direct contact with the athlete, but keep track of their progress from an arms length. “That is why I say it takes an administrator more than an on-the-spot coach,” Van Den Eynde continued. “Canada has the same problem, with the biggest talent being exported in Europe. So I honestly think I’m not the best man for the job.”

More Support and Beijing 2008 Olympics

The only area in which Van Den Eynde was critical was in the support he got. And even there, he refused to resolve to finger-pointing. “But the end result was they could not give me the tools to reach the results they were expecting from me,” Van Den Eynde added. “That said, I’m not pointing at the CCA, or even Sport Canada for that matter. But the plan I had for the track team had no support upstairs.”

Van Den Eynde wanted to send more racers off to international events to gain experience. “If my best rider goes to all the World Cup Events, there’s no money left for the second and third best riders. And they have to win the Canadian Championship to earn that spot. My goal was to give these racers more opportunities to go up against the best in the world,” said Van Den Eynde.

At the CCA, High Performance Director Kris Westwood was disappointed with Van Den Eynde’s decision, but he is happy to see he will still be available to give a hand at the national level.

“We both agree something has to be done,” said Westwood. “It’s just the way to reach the goal that differs. And with Beijing coming around quick, we have to move on.”

Westwood added, “We have a pretty good idea of the team we’ll have in Beijing, and we’re also looking down the road to 2012. And in that, I hope Eric has, in the long term, greater influence on our international success because he will be focusing on developing a greater pool of young talent, and we know we can count on him for that.”

As for Van Den Eynde, he has only one regret: “I will miss the riders from other provinces I had the privilege to work with. But I’m 100% sure this is the right decision for me.”