The Canadian joined the UCI WCC, under its Director Vincent Jacquet, at the beginning of January and is based at the education and training centre in Aigle, Switzerland, which also houses the headquarters of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).
The former Olympian (road race in Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996) has a wealth of experience in coaching and high performance with both Cycling Canada (formerly the Canadian Cycling Association) and Cycling New Zealand (formerly Bike NZ).
He was Chief Executive Officer of Cycling New Zealand immediately before joining the UCI WCC.
Among Jacques Landry’s first priorities has been to get familiar with the different facets of the UCI WCC, which include performance development, training of athletes, courses for people working in cycling’s different professions (for example, coaches, mechanics and Sport Directors), and liaison with the centre’s satellites worldwide.
He has already welcomed the young members of the UCI Women’s Continental Team, WCC Team, and its new coach Cristina San Emeterio, currently training and racing in Spain. They will return to Aigle at the end of the month.
Among his early focuses across the different disciplines is to work alongside UCI WCC staff on talent detection and training in order to assist National Olympic Committees with qualification of athletes for the Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Despite his strong background in High Performance roles, the Canadian is no fan of the term “high performance” itself: “Performance is in the eye of the beholder,” he says. “I prefer to talk about Performance Development with what we are doing here. Our aim is to develop individuals who happen to be cyclists, so that they become well-rounded people.”
His philosophy is 100% in line with that of Vincent Jacquet, who places as much importance on each trainee athlete’s personal development as he does on their development as an athlete. Both men emphasise the important role the UCI WCC’s trainee athletes can have in their respective countries.
Jacques Landry: “Of course we want to help young athletes achieve their goals and it is great if they can represent their country in major competitions. But we also want them to be able to give back to the sport, and this can be by working in their country of origin.”
Another task of the new Head of Training and Development will be to provide guidance to the UCI’s 201 affiliated National Federations when it comes to the development of young people, athletes, leaders and coaches. He will lend his expertise to Federations to help them with the development and implementation of programmes adapted to their activities, which will also involve close collaboration with the UCI WCC’s satellite centres.
Jacques Landry is an expert in strategic planning but also a man of action: “Strategic planning is all very well but then the plan has to be implemented and operationalized.” He is looking forward to optimising the UCI World Cycling Centre’s activities and ensuring that the global cycling family is aware, not only of its existence, but of its vital role in developing cycling worldwide.
“The World Cycling Centre is a big part of what the UCI does, and we must promote what we do,” he says.
About the UCI World Cycling Centre
The UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) is an elite coaching and training centre that also houses the headquarters of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). Opened in 2002, the UCI WCC offers training and development for around 100 athletes from around the world every year in the Olympic disciplines of road, track, mountain bike and BMX Racing. It collaborates closely with its strategically placed satellite centres in South Africa, India, Japan, South Korea and Portugal, for the training not only of athletes but also people working in cycling’s different professions.