The World Tour team’s sports director reflects on a successful 2018, Australian DNA and Simon Yates’ bid for the Vuelta a España
Sitting in a plush hotel lobby in sunny southern Spain, Matt White is unusually calm. The head sports director of World Tour cycling team Mitchelton-Scott is ordinarily a frenetic ball of energy on race day, finalising logistics, plotting team tactics and counselling his riders on their duties for the stage ahead. But during the 2018 Vuelta a España, which began on Saturday, White appears downright relaxed. Indeed when he sits down for an interview with Guardian Australia, it is rugby, not cycling, that is at the forefront of his mind – having just watched Australia’s latest loss to the All Blacks.
This atypical serenity is partly because, after guiding Mitchelton-Scott through the gruelling Giro d’Italia and Tour de France, the 44-year-old Australian is taking a well-deserved break. He is in Spain to mentor another sports director, rather than being in the hot-seat himself. But it is also because, unlike many other teams at the Vuelta, Mitchelton-Scott’s season does not depend on a strong finale. “We are three wins away from this being our most successful season,” he says, having finished his dissection of the Wallabies. “And we still have two months left.”
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