British Cycling's Iain Dyer says only one person can do performance director role

British Cycling’s head coach has said that only one person can fill the role of performance director at the organisation. Iain Dyer said there were few people who could tackle “the full performance realm” during the Olympic cycle, but declined to name the individual he has in mind, adding that he isn’t even certain whether that person will be applying for the job.

British Cycling hasn’t had a performance director since Sir Dave Brailsford left to concentrate on Team Sky in 2014. Shane Sutton succeeded Brailsford, but only as technical director.

Dyer – who together with programmes manager, Andy Harrison, has been overseeing the Great Britain team since Sutton’s departure – has said he will not be applying.

The Guardian reports that when asked how many people could do the job, Dyer replied: "In a genuine performance term? One, probably. That person has to remain nameless. I'm not sure if they are going to apply for it. I don't think there are many candidates within the British sporting landscape that would successfully be able to tackle the full performance realm of that role within this Olympic cycle."

Dyer pointed out that there were very few people who had been associated with the sport at a high level for a long period.

“I don’t just mean the realms of athletic performance. I mean the technical details Dave and Shane, and Peter Keen before them, exhibited. They had a huge technical understanding and knowledge that came from being associated with the sport for decades. There are not many people in that situation that would be capable of fulfilling that role with that degree of technical knowledge and precision.

“I think the PD could [either] be very much about front of house programme management, stakeholders and budgets and reporting to the CEO or it could be very rooted in performance so the scope there is enormous. It’s possible that someone from outside cycling could come in and bring a great deal with them. Were someone to be appointed from outside of British Cycling or outside of cycling in general then it’s possible we’ll have a great deal to learn from their presence.”

Earlier this year, Chris Boardman put forward the name of Sara Symington as a possible new performance director. Symington rode for Britain in Sydney and Athens and is currently performance director for England Netball, having also fulfilled a similar role for Britain’s archery team.

Peter Keen, British Cycling’s performance director from 1997 to 2003, has been working at British Tennis, but recently turned down the chance to work with them long-term.

Dan Hunt, the former Team Sky coach who is now performance director of British Ski and Snowboard could be another name in the mix.

Asked if the fact that he is not applying meant he did not want the job, Dyer said: “I’m not planning to apply. There’s a lot of jobs out there. We’ve all heard about other performance director roles, head coach roles and other things. It’s a very fluid job market, also a very international job market.”