There would be nothing more encouraging for a training session than having Team GB’s most successful Olympian Jason Kenny motivate you. For cyclist Matthew Richardson, this is the pinch-yourself reality he now faces every day since joining the GB programme.
The triple Olympic medallist shone at the Track Champions League in Paris last weekend with his well-timed final sprint against fierce rival and five-time Olympic champion Harrie Lavreysen. Richardson tops the Sprint leaderboard at the start of the five-round series in his first GB outing, yet many seemed to focus on something else.
The British-born but Australian-raised cyclist sparked controversy after his recent Olympic success by announcing his defection from Australia to represent Great Britain, causing the 25-year-old to receive a lifetime ban from AusCycling.
“I think the attention on me has been pretty unfair, I am not the first to ride for another country after representing Australia but because of my success, I was more high-profile,” Richardson tells i.
Richardson, who spent his first nine years growing up in Maidstone, emphasised he has not forgotten his old Australian team.
“I am so thankful to AusCycling for their support when I was riding for them. I have never attacked them and only spoken about them positively.
“This is not about having a future that I did not have in the Adelaide programme as I am happy with what I have achieved.
“But there is not a single thing that makes me doubt my decision, this is something I have wanted to do since I started racing.”
In addition to his three Olympic medals, Richardson has racked up two 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medals and five world championship medals with one gold in the 2022 team sprint.
“But I thought to myself at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham about how incredible it would have been to win a sprint being English in an English velodrome,” an opportunity Richardson will have next weekend.
In his first GB outing in France on Sunday, he wasted no time making an impact, taking all 40 points on offer in the Sprint events, meaning he heads to the next two rounds in the Netherlands with the all-important blue jersey. He will then return to London the following weekend to finally race in GB colours in front of a home crowd.
“I really hope I can win some races in London, it is going to be such a special feeling,” says Richardson.
“I have not felt any uncertainty from British fans and it is nice to have such great support considering I have not really given any real results yet for them.”
For Richardson, these last three months have not been an easy ride. “It has been stressful and nothing about this has been the perfect preparation for these events,” he continued.
Although he has spent the last few years in Adelaide away from the core family unit in Perth, the move to the UK is a big difference, not only because of the weather.
“Unlike what some people think it has not been an instant boost coming here, and it is not like I have come over and been given the best equipment within the team and now I’m winning races. I still have things to prove,” he says.
“But the team and support are so incredible, the culture and the environment here are top-notch.”
Richardson is only at the start of his GB journey and is still finding his place within the team as various mainstays return from their Olympic break.
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics is on his mind, but for now, he is soaking up the chance to be around sporting giants.
“I keep pinching myself,” Richardson says. “Some of the world’s greatest riders are here and it was not long ago I was in awe of them.”
The chance to be coached by Kenny is surreal and Richardson reminds himself of that as he remembers only three years ago asking the seven-time medallist for his autograph in Tokyo 2020.
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