Despite being named on the initial shortlist, Shane Sutton has missed out on the role of High Performance Director at Cycling Australia to his compatriot and former colleague at British Cycling, Simon Jones.
Jones was head coach at British Cycling between 2003 and 2007, before working for the Western Australia Institute of Sport for six years, and most recently was the Head of Performance Support and Innovation at Team Sky, a position he held from 2014.
Sutton meanwhile had been with British Cycling since 2002, but resigned from his position as Technical Director last year amid a whirlwind of accusations against him personally and the British Cycling setup at large. The results of the consequent investigations are yet to be known, but Sutton will for the time being remain out of a job after missing out on the Cycling Australia role.
Kevin Tabotta had been the incumbent High Performance Director, but resigned in September after a summer Olympics which Australia emerged from with only two cycling medals, a silver and a bronze.
'The opportunities to lead a national cycling program do not come around very often and I'm excited and privileged to be a part of the Australian cycling team,' said Jones.
'I believe my career to date has provided me with a perfect apprenticeship for a role like this having worked within two national systems, been to three Olympic Games, and have worked at different levels, from scientist, coach, manager, innovator and leader.'
Meanwhile Cycling Australia CEO Nicholas Green remarked that it had been a highly competitive recruitment and interview process, which included a number of high skilled candidates from a range of sports.
'With more than two decades of consistent success at the highest level, Simon brings a tremendous level of experience and knowledge into the organisation and we consider him an outstanding choice for the role,' he said. 'We are confident that Simon will make an immediate and positive impact on our high performance programs, athletes and staff.'