Keeping the fire burning

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Despite accepting the 15-month suspension,(Image credit: Rory Sutherland)

It's a defensive-sounding voice on the other end of the phone. He professes to be an athlete "tainted good". He never approached anyone for a new contract because he didn't want to grovel. When asked about Operación Puerto, he remarks that "it's pretty obvious there's something not right" with the way the sport's currently governed. He says he's incredibly frustrated, also admitting there's a good dose of anger to go along with it.

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Money wasn't the main reason why he chose the route of acceptance rather than appeal. German cyclist and former Gerolsteiner rider Danilo Hondo, who tested positive for the drug Carphedon in March 2005, lost his appeal before the sport's highest authority, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), in January this year - but not only did the CAS uphold the decision made by the national cycling federation, they extended the ban by another year.

During his time away from racing, Sutherland continued to train "a reasonable amount", but also began working two jobs to keep his frustration at bay. It worked most of the time: "It's very hard to keep yourself motivated when the goals are so far away - you have two good weeks of training and then you have a week where your head falls off a bit. And you just have to find a way to get that edge back, to get that motivation back.

Sutherland relied heavily on his family and friends back home in Canberra. He also kept up talks with Rabobank, the team that ultimately fired him but where he spent three years as an amateur and one as a professional, and continued to receive coaching from one of their trainers whom he befriended. As part of a mid-year holiday, he'd organised a meeting with management of Holland's number one cycling team, still believing re-entering the ProTour was a probability, and possibly with Rabobank. That was before Operación Puerto made its doping debut at the Tour de France.

"The Tour especially didn't help and especially the feeling withing cycling at the moment, it's not a fantastic one for people who are 'tainted good', so to speak. Physically, I think [returning to the ProTour] was possible; mentally, it probably would be a bit of a struggle, and it was probably a good time it happened around the Tour, because you had time to accept the fact and start looking at different options."

"My aim for next year is to race again and enjoy myself, and see where I'm at as well," he says of the one-year deal with Pro Continental outfit Health Net/Maxxis, one of America's top squads. "For everyone I've talked to at Health Net and who've ridden against them, it seems like a really great group of people. I'm actually just really interested in working with them and forming new friendships like I had at Rabobank - meeting new people, seeing new things, new experiences... and looking at things at the end of the year."

For a man who seems to live by American Ben Franklin's famous adage, "Nothing is certain but death and taxes", a 12-month contract should suit him well, offering few guarantees. Emphatically saying he doesn't care what people think of him anymore or whatever's written in the press, Sutherland demands he's here only to prove something to himself. Yet, if one is to excel in this most demanding of sports and enjoy a long career, proof comes in the form of results.

At the time of our interview, a few weeks before Christmas, Sutherland was yet to receive his race program nor knew where he would base himself in the US, but did mention the team plans to mix racing in the States with a spell of racing in Europe. "There's a lot of racing on the East Coast at the start of the year, so it would possibly be a good idea to stay around there," he says of an intended location in which to live in.

"You've also got to have a good group of people surrounding you, and for me, that's the most important thing - you've got good training partners, you have a society you can easily get into and enjoy yourself in and easy access to airports and things like that. But I guess with the racing as it is in the States, I might not need a real base; there is the possibility of a little bit of to and froing between Australia [and the US] and a couple of blocks of racing in Europe at the same time."

According to Sutherland, if his case were before a court of law, he would be in a lot better position than he is now, believing the way he was treated "doesn't seem very humane". Despite what has happened and how he feels, he's ironically quite happy. "As much as I didn't want to it to happen, the things that I've achieved in this last year, the things that I've learned, I'm very happy that I've also had the opportunity to do that, and have had my eyes opened from sport and cycling," he says.

That none of his friends or family doubted or deserted him certainly helps, and in many ways, is testament to his character. Sutherland isn't like many cyclists I've interviewed before; he's well spoken, articulate, perhaps a little over-confident and rather defensive, but nevertheless, intelligent. Intelligent enough to know the difference between right and wrong, and for the time being, intelligent enough to give him the benefit of the doubt.

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