The departure of Canadian Erin Hartwell as the country's cycling coach and technical director is being seen as a huge loss, the T&T Cycling Federation said in a release on Friday.
Hartwell's decision to go on leave, saw former national cyclist Elisha Greene being appointed as his replacement in an interim position for the current UCI Cycling World Cup currently taking place in Milton, Canada.
The release, which was signed by new president Joseph Roberts stated: "The departure of coach Erin Hartwell is a very unfortunate development, especially coming at this time. Erin has been at the centre of our high-performance cycling development programme and has had tremendous impact on T&T cycling – his record speaks for itself."
It noted: "During the past few weeks, cycling has been the subject of negative news coverage, mudslinging and speculation both within and outside the fraternity, culminating Erin’s decision to go on leave to pursue other opportunities. These are the regrettable facts."
Due to this, Hartwell who only recently refuted speculations that the sprint team could not qualify for the Olympics without the services of Njisane Phillip and Kerron Bramble, who were omitted for the current UCI Cycling World Cup in Canada, had said the new sprint team of Kwesi Brown, Nicholas Paul and Quincy Alexander, still had a mathematical chance of qualifying.
According to Roberts release: "Our goals and objectives remain unchanged, the development of cycling and our immediate challenge is, to provide our national cycling team with the best possible support we can, in the quest for Olympic qualification.
"In this regard, the Federation appointed Elisha Greene as coach for World Cup VI, now taking place in Milton, Canada. Elisha is a coach and has been working with the team as its mechanic for more than two years."
The T&T team of Brown, Paul and Alexander which is managed by David Francis and now coached by Greene, arrived in Ontario, Canada on Wednesday, but did not take part in the team sprint event on the opening day yesterday.
However, it will spring into action in the keirin today with Brown, the lone competitor.
Tomorrow, the pair of Paul and Alexander will contest the flying 200 metres event which will be the qualifier for the match sprint.
Roberts said: "Notwithstanding the events of the past few days, the TTCF has remained focused on the team and has sought to ensure the best preparation of the athletes.
"In the coming days, the TTCF plans to meet with the TTOC, the Sport Company of T&T (SporTT) and other relevant stakeholders and authorities to get cycling back on track."
Hartwell was coach of the T&T team back in 2010 before being sacked by SporTT. He later challenged the sacking and returned in his position in 2017.