Mini Canada, Big Adventure
New Zealand’s South Island offers fun trails, glaciers and clowns of the mountains, which are no laughing matter
in 2016 included a second at Milano-torino and a fifth overall at the Tour Down Under, not to mention competing for Canada at the Summer Olympics in Rio. His first two Grand Tours came in 2017, racing to 38th in the Giro d’italia and an impressive seventh in the Vuelta.
Back in Canada, Field was working closely with Cannondale (now EF Education First) manager Vaughters, along with Woods’ coach Paulo Saldanha and privatesector-based sponsor B2ten to work together toward Sept. 30, 2018, when the elite men’s road race would be held in Innsbruck. Field called B2ten’s support of Woods and the wider national program massively important to the success that was to come. “All the pieces of the puzzle were there,” he says.
In October 2017, months before Woods would win the stage at the 2018 Vuelta and almost a year before the world championships, Cycling Canada held a national team camp in Victoria in an effort to strengthen the team-first focus that had become the new mandate under Field’s leadership. “Many of the key athletes we knew would be going to the worlds were there and it was all about team building, hiking, mountain biking, having fun and just talking about how to work together more cohesively,” says Jeffries. “A lot of the success that happened in Innsbruck was born in Victoria.”
Field also produced a pamphlet for sponsors and supporters inviting them to Austria the following year to witness what was going to happen. “There are times in life when you know something historic will happen,” he wrote. “Next September in Innsbruck, Austria, will be one such moment.”
That unwavering belief and support of riders is part of Field’s fundamental ethos when it comes to the organizational side of the sport. His modus operandi is to “create gracious champions who inspire a nation.” It’s an important statement to Field and one that he wrote down for himself in the early days with Jet Fuel. “I’ve always felt that there had to be more. It wasn’t enough to just win races,” he says. To Field, guys such as Tuft embody that concept of gracious champions who inspire Canadians. “I didn’t want to win with dicks and I didn’t want winning to be the ultimate goal,” he says. “I want to win. But you need great character and great talent to win in inspiring ways.”
On that final day of September 2018, when Woods ripped the legs off the top professional riders in the world during the finale of the 265-km world championship race, he clearly embodied that vision, as well. Although Woods was initially disappointed with not being able to beat Valverde for the win, everyone involved in the Canadian program was ecstatic. Bauer was the first person Field hugged after Woods crossed the finish line, and the tears were impossible to stop.
“For every guy of my generation, Steve was the icon who inspired us to race,” Field says. “To grow up and then meet him, work with him, become friends with him and then share that moment in Austria with him was … overwhelming.”
In the typical chaos that follows the completion of a major race, the Canadian team ended up spread out in various areas near the finish line and pit area. But Field called them all. They gathered about 30 minutes after the race was done on a quiet Innsbruck street. One by one, Woods’ teammates Rob Britton, Antoine Duchesne and Hugo Houle arrived. They were joined by some of the women’s team riders and the juniors, and then Woods rolled in with his coach Saldanha.
“We were able to share a really quiet moment together as a team. No crowds, just us,” Field says. Those are the types of moments that drive Kevin Field. It’s not about the glory or the podium or the recognition. It’s about helping elevate Canadian athletes and their sport.
“With him, the purpose is to develop and give back to the sport,” Jeffries says. “It’s always a bigger purpose than the performance. If you go back and look at the way the athletes were communicating on social media around the worlds, there was a real sense of team and family.
“Happy athletes are fast athletes. Kevin creates that environment and that’s why it’s so successful.”
“I want to win. But you need great character and great talent to win in inspiring ways.”