‘Aussie’ defector fires parting shot at cycling authorities over lifetime ban: ‘Just words on a piece of paper’

Matthew Richardson, the track cycling star who defected to Great Britain, has dismissed AusCycling’s lifetime ban as “just words on a piece of paper (that) don’t carry much weight for me.”

The 25-year-old, who won three Olympic medals in Australian colours at the Paris Games, but has already since suited up successfully for the land of his birth, said the cycling body’s review, released Monday,  “was a bit of a shock. I didn’t know it was coming,” adding, “I guess they were just keen to get one last blow, a final word.”

Richardson, who brushed aside claims that he had threatened AusCycling’s intellectual property by asking to take his bike with him after Paris, said he was never worried about a worldwide two-year ban, despite AusCycling seeking one, as he knew it could not be enforced. 

The two-time Olympian insisted he had been “respectful” and “thankful” to AusCycling and had repaid their investment with his results, and hoped in time the parties could “come to some sort of sort of understanding” about his switch.

That may take a while given the bitterness in AusCycling’s review which found he had “acted in a way which conflicted with the values of AusCycling, the Australian national team and the broader cycling community”. 

Richardson’s response to the review is unlikely to help. Of his lifetime ban from AusCycling he said: “I thought it was pretty obvious that by wanting to ride for GB for the rest of my career, that would mean I didn’t want to ride for Australia It’s almost like, you leave your job, and three months later they go, ‘Yeah, well, you’re fired’. ‘Well, I already left.’

“It was just words on a piece of paper, and don’t carry much weight for me.”

On the intellectual property charge Richardson said contrary to the review his bike was just an off-the-shelf Argon anyone could buy, he had returned all AusCycling’s equipment and only took it initially as not doing so would have aroused suspicions.

“If I’d spoken to my coach and said, ‘I’m going to spend six months in Europe to the end of the year, but I’m not going to bring any bike’. He would have gone, ‘What are you doing then?’.”

As for the life ban, he said: “I knew a long time ago that that was never going to be upheld. That was just words on a piece of paper that, again, don’t hold any weight.”

Richardson was speaking as the early leader in the UCI Track Champions League having beaten Dutch ace Harrie Lavreysen in the opening round in both sprint and kierin at the weekend, reversing the Olympics results on the same Paris track. The pair meet again on Lavreysen’s home territory on Friday.

He said he was inspired by racing for GB as “hearing the announcer call my name, representing Great Britain, was a really special moment. It gave me chills. It was nice getting through rounds, because I got to hear it again and again and again.”

Born in Maidstone, Richardson moved to Australia aged nine, but said moving back has been more stressful than his quick success suggests.

“I’ve just spent all day building furniture in my flat, trying to move into a new home. I’ve been living out of a suitcase for a few months, nothing about that to me is perfect preparation. Although it may seem all sunshine and rainbows over here, it’s been a stressful couple of months.”

 He added he hoped the publication of the review meant at least one distraction was now over. 

“I’ve always been respectful to AusCycling and been very thankful for everything they did for me over the years. And, I really did think I repaid them with results.

“Unfortunately noise was created. But I sleep well at night knowing that that noise didn’t come from myself. Hopefully, in years to come, myself and AusCycling can come to some sort of understanding, but for now I hope they’ve had their last word, we can put it to bed and enjoy riding in circles.”