GO WEST

LIZZIE DEIGNAN: At junior level, do athletes stand out for their mental or physical approach, and which is most significant?

PHIL WEST: With you specifically, it was more about your attitude than the physical thing. Although you could still see you had some aptitude, that wasn’t the hook.

With junior athletes, you can be a really physically talented athlete and be quite mentally fragile. Or vice versa: you can be stubborn and have massive willpower and be motivated. There’s a saying: hard work will always beat talent. The interesting thing with juniors is that what you often see first is talent. Then they transition into hard work. It’s interesting where it crosses over and athletes have to start working hard to support the performance. That’s when you see when they are mentally strong or weak and if they need support.

LD: Do you still do that at pro level?

I think what I did with you and others was the right thing to do for the way I thought at the time. When I started coaching, I’d just stopped being a bike rider. I was 23, so I was also learning a lot. I made mistakes, like we all do. But things like helping you get to races or spending more time thinking about the way we did things… Would I do that now with guys at this level? No. I think you’ve got to be careful you don’t create a crutch. It’s about challenging behaviour. You’ve got to ask, why aren’t you doing something? Is it because they can’t do it or they don’t want to do it? You have to decide where you cut into