No sooner had Scott Sunderland retired after the 2004 Tour de France did he begin a new life as a sports director, with a team that in many ways revolutionised old-school cycling: Team CSC.

Headed up by ’96 Tour champ Bjarne Riis, Scott Sunderland quickly gained the respect of riders and staff for his work ethic and ideas, particularly in the Spring Classics, and in 2006 and 2007, he directed CSC to consecutive success in the hardest Classic of all: Paris-Roubaix.

In 2008, CSC took the prize every Grand Tour aspirant dreams of. In a coup de grace, Carlos Sastre’s all-or-nothing attack on the slopes of L’Alpe d’Huez earned the Spaniard and his team overall victory at the Tour de France, which for Australian cycling fans, was unfortunately at the expense of Cadel Evans.

It was therefore no surprise to see Sunderland courted by the latest team on the block, the Cervélo TestTeam, in September that year. But the man from Inverell, the same town in country New South Wales as Heinrich Haussler, quit before he began.

Other than saying it was a mutual parting of ways both sides said little, which, depending on how you look at it, indicated that perhaps the parting wasn’t void of acrimony.

Early last year, there were rumblings of a British-backed super-team, set to make their ProTour debut in 2010. With plenty of pounds to spend, Dave Brailsford set about recruiting the best in the business: the best riders, the best trainers, the best support staff – coupled with the best bikes, the best technology, and whatever other resources… so long as it was the best.

In a nutshell, the best of everything. Sunderland was one of the men Brailsford first approached.

When contacted by phone this week from his home in Zottegem, Belgium – he’s been there so long now there’s nary an Australian accent – it’s clear the 43-year-old is revelling in his role as senior sports director. And with the Tour of Flanders just round the corner this Sunday, we’re well into one of his favourite times of the year.

In a near hour-long conversation, I quizzed Sunderland about why he relishes the Classics which he says is akin to “hand-to-hand combat”; Sky’s ambitions to become more British (hopefully not at the expense of Australians); his take on a few riders’ vitriolic remarks against Team Sky at the tours of Qatar and Oman in February; Milan-San Remo winner Oscar Freire’s assessment of Sky rider and cycling’s next big thing, Edvald Boasson Hagen; the Aussies on Sky and how they’re progressing; and whether his horrific crash in the 1998 Amstel Gold Race, where his former sport director drove a car straight into him, still haunts the wizened sport director.

Here are excerpts from the interview. There is one or two more things of significance – but you’ll have to wait for my Cycling Central blog next week for that!

Cycling Central: Scott, the Spring Classics are well and truly upon us now. Is this your favourite time of year, given these are the races you excelled in as a rider?

Scott Sunderland: I love this time of year but I sort of split the season up into four sectors: the beginning of the season up till the Classics; then you have the Classics; the Giro in May and the Dauphiné and Tour de Suisse in June; and then you have the Tour all the way to the Tour of Spain.

I like [the Classics] because it’s very exciting racing. The way stage races play out, they have their own particular scenario behind the scenes, going towards overall victory – but the Classics is the strongest man on that day.

It’s really like hand-to-hand combat. And I just enjoy seeing it, whether I’m in the race behind the wheel of a car; as a cyclist; or just as a spectator or fan – I just love watching the Classics. I think my passion for the Classics comes across to the riders as well.

CC: Before we talk more about the cobbled Classics, which is what you specialise in, are you able to talk more about what happened at Cervélo? Until you signed as a sport director at Team Sky, it felt like you were in limbo…

SS: The actual transition between Cervélo and Team Sky was very short, to be honest. And I think if you’ve been following what’s been happening with the management decisions at Cervélo, and the changes they’ve made, I think it gives you a reason why I chose not to stay on and go to Team Sky.

So no, I wasn’t in limbo at all, actually – it was getting on with things and doing it discreetly.

CC: Let’s talk about Sky’s goals at the start of the season. Was it to try and dominate every race you contested, because you have a formidable line-up?

SS: Definitely not. This year in particular, as part of the ProTour, we had many races [whose organisers] more or less had guaranteed spots [for our team], so it was a case of building relationships with different stakeholders in cycling, like ASO, the organisers of the Tour de France, and RCS, who organise the Giro d’Italia.

So we had a certain obligation to do a specific programme. To do that well, we needed to pinpoint the key races, looking at our riders and the strength of our team structure; we don’t just go from one race to another and go, ‘let’s try this and see if it works’ – there’s structure through our whole program.

Of course, being a first-year team, I’m already looking now at what we can do differently for next year, taking notes, so hopefully next year, we can improve and refine it.

CC: Your line-up is not just strong, but for a British-backed team, it’s culturally quite eclectic. Has Dave Brailsford or Sky management stipulated what proportion of the team’s riders must be from the UK?

SS: Yes, definitely. Dave Brailsford said the riders didn’t need to have a British passport to be in this team but in a certain way, we need to be making sure we’re looking after the available and experienced British talent so they come to this team.

Part of the reason why we’re doing this team is to help young British riders coming into the pro ranks, rather than going to foreign teams. The British also has an under-23 base in Italy like the Aussies do, so it gives those riders somewhere to aspire to go to.

The ratio at the moment’s about 2-to-1 foreign riders to British; they’d like to turn that around so that it’s two parts British to one part foreign rider in the coming four years.

CC: In your own words, can you tell us what happened at the tours of Qatar and Oman, because as I wrote in a blog post on SBS’ Cycling Central – which is when you contacted me – it felt as though the other teams were ganging up on Team Sky?

SS: To be honest I wasn’t at Oman – I was at Qatar. I think it was more a few individuals and a couple of journalists who… blew this out of proportion to make something that wasn’t actually there. And I think for those few individuals, it became quite obvious [they were making things up] when things panned out they way they did.

The ganging up part, that’s definitely far from the truth; all the individuals in this team are very nice guys, never have any problems with anyone else.

If anything there, I think some individuals were directing it towards British Cycling members, but not at the team, or myself, or any other sports director. I’m not really sure about that – I just know it wasn’t warranted; it was very much unwarranted to throw those accusations at those riders at that race.

CC: Now, Edvald Boasson Hagen was one of the favourites for Milan-San Remo – do you think the pressure got to him?

SS: No, I don’t think the pressure got to him at all. Edvald was having a few ongoing niggles with his Achilles; we mentioned to the press that he needed to get some treatment for that this week.

Hence his low profile [last weekend] – he contested both races last weekend, but without straining his Achilles tendon. We’ll see how he’s feeling after his treatment and depending on his results, we’ll decide on his programme for the coming weeks. [His result in San Remo] had nothing to do with pressure.

CC: Oscar Freire’s comments to the press after he won San Remo baffled me a little. He said: “Boasson Hagen is very strong and has already won some good races, but you’ve got to open your eyes and really understand racing. Myself, Boonen and others didn’t contest the final sprint in Tirreno[-Adriatico]. Boasson Hagen is a great rider but the important race was today.”

Do you agree with that, because I don’t? For example, Cavendish won the final sprint in Tirreno last year and went on to win San Remo, so do you think Freire was getting on his high-horse a bit?

SS: I think Oscar rode Tirreno-Adriatico incognito. His whole purpose was to have people not look at him, so he wouldn’t have any pressure in Milan-San Remo. Also his team wouldn’t have any stress as well, but they wouldn’t have him do work.

When you have a favourite, your team has to get up and do work, like Liquigas did. That’s why in the end, you could see us pulling too much for Edvald because he was having problems; that’s why our tactic was to back off and do something with [Juan Antonio] Flecha or Thomas Lövkvist.

But as you say, if you look back at through the palmarès [from the last stage of Tirreno], [Alessandro] Petacchi contested that last sprint with Edvald; Thor Hushovd was also up there, trying to contest the sprint as well. So in saying he [Boasson Hagen] was young and the last stage was not the important one – Petacchi and Hushovd are great sprinters and have won a great deal of races – I think he’s off in saying that about Edvald, and he’s also saying that about his other colleagues.

To me, he can say what he wants and that’s his view on it and that’s fine.

CC: The fact is bike racing is unpredictable and that’s why we love it, right? As journalists, we can try and predict what’s going to happen; you as sport directors can try and prepare your riders and strategies for what you would like to happen or how you would like things to happen – but until it actually happens, no-one really knows for sure…

SS: Exactly. You can have a different strategy, believing what is best for your team and the parcours, et-cetera – but you’ve got 23 teams in the race and how the hell are you going to know what their strategy is?

You have an idea based on what team they have, but according to the dynamics of a race, riders need to adjust and so do we as sport directors. That’s the whole idea; if it was that easy then everybody would be doing it, wouldn’t they? But like you say, that’s what makes bike racing so exciting; there are all these different variables that can influence the outcome of a race.

CC: What can we expect from the Aussies on Sky in the Classics? I’m sure Matt Hayman will be there to guide Flecha and maybe Boasson Hagen in Roubaix, and Gerrans hopes to win one of the Ardennes Classics, but what about CJ Sutton? He seems to have gone a little quiet since his stage win at the Tour Down Under?

SS: Chris has been doing a good job; he was part of the team that was doing the final lead-out for Edvald in Tirreno-Adriatico. He’s instrumental in playing a certain role in the Classics – everybody has a certain job to do in the race, and Chris has been up there in that. He’s also learning, because he’s never really done all of them in this way before; not a steep learning curve for him, but a continual learning curve.

Matt Hayman is riding very strong and is an integral part of the team, and can still make results [himself]. The other day in Dwars Door Vlaanderen, there was a group away and unfortunately we plus the other teams couldn’t get them back, but he won the sprint for fifth. And last weekend he rode really well. But the two races where he’s going to really shine are Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, and we’ll be counting on him a hell of a lot.

And Simon’s progressing really well. He’s making some steps towards becoming a better climber. He had a crash last week which is going to be putting him a bit behind, but hopefully there’s going to be no repercussions – all looks okay at the moment. But Simon’s working towards Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in Belgium and the south of Holland. With the team’s confidence and support, he shouldn’t be far from the podium or on the podium, if not the top step.

CC: Speaking about crashes, does your horrific accident in Amstel still haunt you at all, or does time heal those wounds?

SS: Put it this way, I don’t get paranoid about it or I don’t keep thinking about it or have nightmares about it.

I still suffer the consequences of it. I could walk around frustrated because of the pain that I have or the discomfort that I’m having but what’s that going to do for me? It doesn’t make the sun shine more, it doesn’t put money in the bank, it doesn’t make me happier… I just need to be positive and work harder at feeling good about myself and what I’m doing, and doing my job. So it doesn’t worry me at all.

CC: The pain you say you have, does it hold you back in any way?

SS: No, no… it doesn’t hold me back, apart from having to take some paracetamol – sometimes large doses (laughs) – but it doesn’t hold me back in any way, no.