Indian cycling has often been a tale of unfulfilled promise a sport with deep cultural roots but limited professional structure. That narrative may now be changing, thanks to the arrival of Kévin Sireau, the French sprint legend and two-time Olympic silver medallist.
Appointed as India’s first foreign cycling coach in early 2024, Sireau has been entrusted with nothing less than a systemic overhaul, aimed squarely at making India competitive for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and beyond. His impact has already begun to show. Within months of his appointment, India’s juniors won six medals at the Asian Track Cycling Championships, and national records have tumbled. Yet, a stark reality persists: while the juniors thrive, the senior team continues to struggle. The duality underlines both the promise of his methods and the scale of the challenge ahead.
Born in 1987 in Châteauroux, France, Kévin Sireau found his passion for the velodrome at age 12, attracted by the thrill of speed and the head-to-head drama of track sprinting. Over the next decade, he built a formidable career: Olympic silver medals in the team sprint at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, multiple French national titles, and a reputation as one of the fastest sprinters of his era. Sireau’s expertise in sprinting is no accident, and neither is his appointment. Sprint is where India has shown the most promise in recent years, producing flashes of talent on the junior stage.
By bringing in a coach steeped in sprint culture, the Cycling Federation of India (CFI) has made a deliberate decision: to focus its limited resources on an event with the highest potential for global breakthroughs.
The Philosophy: Step by Step, Mental First
Unlike many coaches who emphasize raw power or technical tweaks, Sireau starts with the mind. “The first thing I look at is mentality,” he says. Riders may be fit, but if they are scared on the track particularly on brakeless bikes at high speeds they cannot succeed. His belief is simple: mental toughness precedes medals.
Training under him is described as intense and uncompromising. “If you’re tired in training, what will you do in competition?” he reminds his athletes. Cyclists such as Beckham and Rojit Singh have noted how Sireau has reshaped everything from training schedules to diet and recovery routines instilling what they call a “new discipline” into the team. His approach mirrors the French high-performance model, emphasizing process over short-term results. For India, a nation still developing its professional sporting ecosystem, this patience-first strategy is vital. It avoids burnout, builds resilience, and prioritizes sustainable growth over fleeting glory.
Cycling in India is everywhere, yet nowhere. Millions use bicycles daily for transport in towns, villages, and cities where short-distance travel is ideal for two wheels. But this widespread utility has never translated into professional success. Infrastructure remains limited, safe cycling tracks are rare, and competitive cycling remains largely invisible to the public eye. It is this paradox that Sireau confronts. His task is to create a high-performance program in a country where cycling is common but professional pathways are shallow. To bridge the gap, he has emphasized talent identification at younger levels, while the CFI is decentralizing training centers across the country.
The goal is clear: transform recreational use into a structured talent pipeline capable of producing Olympians.
Early Impact: A Tale of Two Teams
Sireau’s tenure began with a burst of junior-level success. At the 2024 Asian Track Cycling Championships, India’s juniors bagged six medals, including a gold in the women’s team sprint. By 2025, national records fell in both team sprint and individual flying events at the National Cup. The senior team, however, came home empty-handed from the same championships. To Sireau, this wasn’t a surprise. He has repeatedly noted the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, which robbed juniors of “crucial two years” of training and halted their progression to senior ranks. Bridging this lost time is central to his mission.
The contrast between juniors and seniors isn’t failure it’s diagnosis. The junior medals prove talent exists. The senior drought shows why systemic reform is essential.
At the heart of Sireau’s plan is a smaller, sharper focus group. India’s current core team includes 25–30 cyclists. For Sireau, that’s too many. He proposes a leaner pool: no more than 10 elites and 10 juniors. Those who fail to perform will be sent back after a year. It’s a bold strategy. Critics may see it as ruthless, but Sireau argues it mirrors the French system one where government support is strictly tied to performance, and competition for spots is fierce. In his view, only by raising accountability can Indian cycling reach global standards.
Another cornerstone is international exposure. Competing against Asia alone isn’t enough. Training camps in Europe, he insists, are essential not luxuries. These camps expose riders to higher standards of competition and prepare them for the grueling Olympic qualification cycle, which demands ranking points earned through global events. The road to LA 2028 is lined with obstacles. The pandemic’s shadow lingers, with juniors still recovering lost ground. Infrastructure challenges remain from air pollution that limits outdoor training in Delhi to the need for more indoor velodromes across the country.
There’s also the risk of alienating talent. By trimming squads aggressively, some cyclists may feel discarded. Balancing ruthless selection with athlete development will test both Sireau and the CFI. Above all, patience is key. Results may not come overnight. For a sporting culture accustomed to quick judgments, sustaining belief in a “step-by-step” plan will require resolve from both athletes and administrators.
Still, there is no denying the sense of a turning point. For the first time, Indian cycling has a foreign coach of global pedigree, a clear Olympic roadmap, and evidence of junior talent making waves. Sireau’s emphasis on mental strength, focused squads, junior development, and international exposure is not revolutionary in Europe but in India, it is transformative. His methods promise to build not just faster cyclists but a culture of accountability and excellence. For too long, Indian cycling has been content to participate. Under Sireau, the ambition is different: to compete for podiums.
The juniors’ medals suggest the potential is real. The challenge now is ensuring that potential survives the leap into the senior ranks.
Kévin Sireau’s appointment is more than a coaching change; it is a statement of intent. India is no longer satisfied with being an outsider in global cycling. By 2028, the hope is to field a team not just present at the Olympics, but competing for medals. The path is tough, the reforms demanding, and the risks real. But for the first time, Indian cycling seems to have both a vision and a visionary. As the country watches its young cyclists grow under the guidance of a champion, the dream of seeing India sprint onto the Olympic podium no longer feels distant. With Kévin Sireau at the helm, it feels like a plan.
