August 19, 2008 — Former top Canadian rider, competing at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games for Canada, Jacques Landry, 38, was recently named the Canadian Cycling Association’s new Chief Technical Officer (CTO). Landry was also a CCA Development coach and his varied career has taken him to New Zealand where he’s been with the cycling federation (BikeNZ) since 2003 as the head road coach and the Operations manager for the European Training Center based out of France. We caught up with him following the announcement to get his thoughts on this career move and what lies ahead.

Tell us how you got started in cycling, your racing career in Canada in brief, and the steps that lead you to Bike New Zealand?
Jacques Landry: I started cycling seriously with a friend when I lived in Aylmer, Quebec in 1984. We became members of a cycling club in Hull called ” Le Tandem”. All summer we trained with guys from the club in Gatineau Park. Eventually my family moved to Quebec City and I started competing as a cadet with the Club Cycliste Ste-Foy.

At the Ste-Foy club I made it to the junior nationals and Tour of Abitibi – I was national junior road champ in St. John, NB in 1987. Eventually I started racing on the national team in 1988 when I became senior. After a few Euro campaigns it became clear to me that my path to the Olympics and going pro would be through racing in Europe so I started in France from 1992 onward.

In 1998, after a couple of Road World championships, Olympics and Commonwealth Games under my belt I felt it was time for me to transition into a career that kept me in cycling. I announced my retirement in early 1998 and I was offered a development coach
position by Pierre Hutsebaut (CCA HPD at the time). I began as the National Development Coach for the CCA in early 1999.

I stayed on board with the CCA for five years where I ended up managing some Worlds
projects including head road coach for the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002. In 2003, after the Road Worlds in Hamilton I was head-hunted by New Zealand to be the national road coach and was asked to set up a European cycling base in France for any HP NZ cycling events that would need to be based out of Europe. In 2003, it was the right time for a new challenge and felt I was up for the task of setting up the NZ base in Europe. While it has been quite a challenge I can safely say that the base is now running very well, and I am proud of my accomplishment. I am now looking for a new challenge.

Can you comment on the cycling milieu, programs, and style in NZ vs. Canada?
JL: Judging on the results at the Beijing Olympics one could conclude that their strength is endurance track cycling. New Zealand has a great track cycling history and it is ingrained in their culture. Kids at a young age either hit the rugby pitches or bikes at a school level. I actually think that NZ is probably one of the strongest track cycling countries per capita (4.5 million people in the country). It is no wonder that track cycling (on the endurance side) will be the target for them at the London Games”¦

This season we tried giving our track endurance men a good road racing base in Belgium and it has paid off and one would imagine that after the results posted in Beijing, the necessary funding will be allocated to continue in that direction for the next four years.

As is the case in here, the Sport Canada equivalent in NZ (SPARC) is limited in its funds across all sports in NZ so a few years ago the decision was taken to keep only seven Olympic funded sports, and cycling was kept as a medal hope for the Olympics. The only non-Olympic sport maintained on list for funding was rugby (no surprise there).

The CTO is an all encompassing position – road, track, MTB, para-cycling and BMX. Your background is primarily road, what’s your experience with the other disciplines?
JL: I can safely say that I am comfortable with all Olympic cycling sports as I have been in contact with all of these to different degrees while in position in NZ. Obviously most of my experience stems from the road but in the last few years my experience on the track has increased in a big way and I have been on deck to manage MTB and BMX Worlds in the last few years. I admit I am a bit rusty on the para side of things but in saying that I have worked with some of the NZ tandem athletes while using the base facilities in France. Canada has tremendous potential in para-cycling and it will be an important component in 2012.

The CCA structure has been evolving since you were last here. What are the changes you see – its strengths and areas that need improvement?
JL: I’ve had a chance to contribute to and have read the 360 HP review (posted on the CCA website) and what comes out as being items that need to be worked on is communication, transparency, focus, empowering coaches and coach development. What is great, and what has motivated me to take this job is that a lot of trench work has been done by the CEO who has effectively cleared the way for reconstruction of the CCA and its HP component. To me the timing is right, the CCA is running an almost clean slate and we can actually start building from the ground up in a post-Olympic year, which is the way to do things. The stars are aligning well!

What are the biggest challenges for Canadian cycling that lie ahead and can you comment on how you’re planning to address them?
JL: Again, based on a very concise 360 review, I can say that we need to change a bit of the cycling culture in the sense that some hard decisions will have to be made with regards of determining with all the stakeholders where the medal potential is for London 2012. After consulting with top national coaches, PSO’s, training centers, etc; I can see some unpopular decisions being made as some cycling disciplines may be put on the back burner a bit. If that is to be the case, proper communication is critical to convey the CCA’s HP rationale. At the end of the day we – everyone in cycling in Canada – should be aiming for medals and all of our energies should be directed to this goal. No medals, no funding! I believe it is time we commit to this strategy and truly become a “high performance sport”!

The process of HP athlete selection for major events has been the subject of lots of debate. You’ve experienced it from both sides – does the system here need to be overhauled?
JL: I believe the carding and athlete selection criteria needs to be reviewed. I believe that more ownership and power should be given to the coaches. They are the experts in their field. Granted, with more responsibility on the coach, comes more accountability. If you want coaches to make executive decisions when needed, they need to be empowered to do so and a selection and carding criteria should be tailored to pick the best athletes for the job at hand.

In NZ, I have worked with selection criteria which is based on determining the athlete who is the best suited for the type of event at hand at Worlds, Olympics, etc. The role of the selectors is to validate and challenge my decisions. Obviously with the set up I am putting my judgment on the line every time I make a call but that is the name of the game.

Is there a particular area of the sport where you’d really like to see significant progress made?
JL: For the time being I think it’s a question of sitting down with all top influential cycling coaches, in the country to analyze the state of cycling in general and from that point forward isolate and focus on where the best potential medals lie.

Canada cycling has always had winners but a cohesive vision that unifies all factions continues to be a challenge. What are your thoughts on this going forward?
JL: I believe that through transparency, communication and a clear pathway towards our medal goals we, in Canadian cycling, should be able to create a nationwide unified pathway to performance at the highest level. We as a nation should be unified by the quest for Olympic and Paralympic gold in pin-pointed cycling sports. At the end of the day, a medal coming from any Canadian athlete should be the product of a unified Canadian effort, not a specific training centre, province or coach. We are all in this together, as a nation! And we should all be supporting efforts that follow the determined pathways to medals.

The press release announcing your new position said you were “itching to come back to Canada” – was the timing was just right to make the move?
JL: The timing is great because I feel that the CCA is on the right track and I am up for the challenge. Also because I am at a point in my career that I need to travel a bit less for my son’s sake. I’m confident I can contribute to the Canadian Sport system with the experience I’ve acquired over the years and that being a post-Olympic year I can safely say that I have honoured my contract with New Zealand and have helped steer them in a good High Performance direction. This question unfortunately was missed when we first posted the interview.

Thanks for your time and all the best in your new position with the CCA.
JL: Thank you as well.