Adrian Hegyvary

Coach Profile
Cycling

Whilst humble and modest in nature, there is little doubting the positive impact Cycling NZ men’s endurance coach Adrian Hegyvary is making to the team’s bunch racing skills.

New Zealand traditionally boasts a strong pedigree in the team pursuit, however, Adrian, a US Olympian in the Madison, has gradually changed perceptions and put a greater emphasis on bunch racing on the track.

Admitting it was “a bit of a risk,” the 39-year-old, who took on the role of men’s endurance coach last November, was not sure whether the move would detract from the team pursuit.

However, the results at the 2023 World Cycling Championships in Glasgow, where Aaron Gate and Campbell Stewart delivered Madison bronze with the Kiwi team pursuit quartet – featuring Gate and Stewart alongside Thomas Sexton and Nick Kergozou – also securing bronze, was a validation that the strategy was working.

“The team pursuit is the one timed event on the endurance track programme and it is the gas that fills the room,” explains Adrian. “It consumes everything because it is such a resource-heavy event. Historically, programmes have invested heavily into the team pursuit because you need to invest to achieve a positive outcome, but I’ve always scratched my head a bit (with this approach). My thoughts are why, when you have such high-quality bunch riders, would you also not also invest in bunch racing?”

“To win a medal in the Madison was only the third time ever that this had happened for New Zealand and it was real affirmation we are on the right track.”

Born in Chicago but raised in Seattle on the Pacific Northwest, his passion for racing bikes took firm grip when studying law at the University of Washington. Initially starting out as a track rider, Adrian almost stumbled into coaching in 2004 when he began working at a cycling training centre. Exposed to a range of roles, which included specialised private coaching, he described the period as playing a key part in his “learning evolution.”

However, after six years, and enjoying a burgeoning professional road career with the United Healthcare Team, he quit coaching in 2010 with no intention of returning.

“When I stopped in that role, I was a little turned off to coaching,” he admits. “It was maybe quite a narrow vision of coaching, but many of the people I was working with were 60 years old. I’d spend a lot of time with them but they’d maybe only complete 40 per cent of the programme. They were nowhere as invested as I was, and I felt it was taking up a lot of my energy. I swore several times I would never coach anybody again which, looking back, probably showed I lacked some perspective over what a coaching role could be.”

For the best part of the next decade, he competed around the world on the road for the United Healthcare team but after the team folded in 2018, he refocused his effort on the track and qualified for the US team in the Madison at the Tokyo Olympics.

Post-Tokyo, Adrian retired from cycling to return to his home in Cambridge, which he shares with his wife, New Zealand three-time Olympic track cyclist, Rushlee Buchanan.

While unaware at the time, during his lengthy cycling career Adrian was already developing many of the coaching skills he now employs. At United Healthcare, he served as road captain – leading team meetings, planning and in some cases taking a lead on logistics.

As one of the senior riders on the US track programme he took on a similar role, while his background in law has also played a key role in setting himself up for the demands of coaching.

“The US law school is method-based in that it teaches you a way to think,” he explains. “That thinking is around identifying principles and being rigorous with yourself. Law is a study of people and how we create systems. In some ways this mirrors the role of a programme coach.”

Post the Tokyo Olympic Games and keen to re-engage with coaching, his rise has been meteoric. After carrying out some work with Cycling NZ in Coach Development, he then took on a position for 26 hours a week as cycling head coach at St. Peter’s School in Cambridge. Adrian continued to work in athlete engagement and other areas at Cycling NZ and in May last year he was hired by Cycling NZ in a role which initially combined athlete development and bunch racing.

After the men’s endurance coach, Craig Palmer, resigned post the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Adrian successfully applied for the position and since November last year has taken on the multi-faceted role.

“I like to think of it as a generalist role,” explains Adrian. “We already have a strong programme. We have an embedded sports science approach which works, and great support in terms of nutrition, strength and conditioning and other areas. What the head coach does is based on the needs of the group, but also what his or her expertise is. I’m not from a sports science background, but I have an experience in the sport and working with teams. We clearly already have a very good group with a lot of very good systems in place, but my main role is to plug any gaps and clear any hurdles or obstacles that might exist.”

One of the biggest challenges Adrian and his team have faced has been the change from a centralised programme – in which the bulk of the track riders have been coached at one location – to the decentralised model that currently exists.

This unprecedented challenge experienced by the organisation met some initial “growing pains” which has led to redefining expectations around the group.

“Where previously the lead coach would be writing out nine training programmes, now we have to figure out how to work with the guys who are writing those programmes and how to collaborate with the teams to work out everyone is getting what they need,” explains Adrian.

“So far, the co-ordination of external parties has gone well. We’ve created a system that has reaped rewards, although I don’t think the results that we saw at Worlds was anything we were not capable of. The progress made through the decentralised camp-based approach has been a big success.”

Believing the team has also made gains in terms of equipment and innovation, it is clear that they are tracking positively towards Paris next year.

Adrian has not been in the role a year but has been blessed to learn from a group of top-quality mentors. These are led by the former Cycling NZ men’s endurance head coach Craig Palmer, and also includes performance consultant Richard Smith – through the HPSNZ programme – former women’s coach at Cycling NZ Ross Machejefski, and US Cycling coach Gary Sutton, all of whom he believes have played an important role in his coaching development.

But does Adrian himself have a coaching philosophy?

“It is still growing, but my mantra has been compassionate honesty,” he explains. “Honesty is one of the hardest things to deliver but one of the greatest gifts you can give somebody is real honesty. We’ve talked about wellbeing;

it is not well defined, but I think compassion is a part of it and when stuck in this role it tends to be around delivery of difficult messages. Compassion and honesty is growing to be my mantra and style.”

When confronted with the question of whether coaching is art or science, Adrian sides with the former. As cycling is a data-heavy sport, some might be surprised at the perception, however, that it is based on sound principles.

“I think the people that deliver what they are capable of under immense pressure are who wins on the day,” he says. “With this in mind, it is the human component is what decides who wins and who loses, and that human component is where the unknowns are in our sport.”

With Paris the next big goal on the horizon, Adrian faces some intense periods fine-tuning his coaching to best ensure a strong performance by the men’s track team.

But what does Adrian love about coaching?

“I’ve always loved the sport and being a coach is just an easy way to remain involved in the sport,” he explains. “I started out with the enjoyment of riding a bike, I later developed a passion for racing and training, and I’ve since learned to love the strategy and planning. I was self- coached for most of my career – and it took most of my career to figure out how to do it effectively. To be able to coach a group, planning a four-year build to get all the pieces to move, is what I love about the sport. It is the same buzz as racing, just with a lower heart rate!”