Cycling Australia's decision "to cut a female road development program has been labelled by riders as a major setback for women," and has also concerned the sport's top sponsor and former President Gerry Ryan, according to Samantha Lane of THE AGE.
Tiffany Cromwell, Chloe Hosking and retired Commonwealth champion turned team boss Rochelle Gilmore "have termed the move shortsighted and potentially damaging."
The trio said that "it was unsatisfactory for CA, which is being forced to make severe cuts across multiple disciplines due to its parlous financial state, to rely on the GreenEDGE aligned professional Orica-AIS team to develop Australia's youngest female talent." CA's high-performance boss Kevin Tabotta has said that "he hoped the women's road development program would be reinstated in time, but was optimistic that worthy young females would not be deprived in the meantime." Ryan, who has invested a small fortune in Australian cycling, owns the Orica-GreenEDGE World Tour team and recently spent a short time as CA's president. He reportedly "was unaware of the move to cut the women's road development program until Fairfax reported the development." A "longtime champion" of female sport, Ryan "is understood to be disappointed by the news" (THE AGE, 1/4).
