The recently retired Rory Sutherland – who raced this season for Israel Start Up-Nation – will take on a new, part-time role as elite road coordinator for the Australian Cycling Team, AusCycling announced on Friday.
In September, the 38-year-old announced his decision to retire this year, and finished his career after completing the Vuelta a España in Madrid in early November.
"I am immensely proud to be joining the Australian Cycling Team as elite road coordinator," Sutherland said of his new, Europe-based role in an AusCycling (formerly Cycling Australia) press release. "My new role will allow me to give back to the sport and program that showed me so much support over the past 20 years, and I look forward to working with everyone as Australia continues to reach new heights in cycling."
Sutherland's new role will involve him working closely with Australia's professional road riders, and in particular those that are part of the Australian Cycling Team's Individual Athlete Performance Support (IAPS) programme, including Ineos Grenadiers' Rohan Dennis, Mitchelton-Scott's Amanda Spratt and Michael Matthews, who will leave Sunweb to join the Mitchelton-Scott men's team for 2021.
Australia's focus for the national team on the road will be on next summer's postponed Tokyo Olympic Games, the World Championships in Belgium in September and the Commonwealth Games, taking place in Birmingham, in the UK, in summer 2022.
The Australian Cycling Team's performance director, Simon Jones, added: "With two decades of international experience, we believe that Rory has a tremendous amount of knowledge and practical experience to bring to the team, and we are excited to be working with him.
"Rory's focus in the short term will be on maximising our medal chances for Tokyo, and, secondly, contributing to our longer-term plans to sustain road success at major championships in the future," he said.