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Ben Swift has had an incredible 2011 on the road in his second year with Team Sky, completing his first Tour de France and winning a total of five stages in Romandie, Tour Down Under, Castilla y Leon and California. However, 2012 will see a change of emphasis for the 24 year old from Rotherham, whose primary focus will turn to London, the velodrome and the team pursuit.
“I think that first and foremost it’s the Olympics and everything is shaped around that really. I haven’t really got a heavy programme on the road”, revealed Swift when British Cycling interviewed him at GB Cycling Team headquarters in Manchester in late November 2011. “I’m going full gas for the team pursuit” said Swift, in the third week of a gruelling team pursuit ‘boot camp’ programme. “It’s been pretty tough. We’ve been on the track Monday afternoons, a double day on Tuesday and a double day on Thursday so it’s been pretty intense. We’ve almost gone back to basics with spoked wheels and just getting the hard work done.”
Pre-Olympic team pursuit form will be tested in February and the home round of the Track World Cup in London, followed by Melbourne in April, when the team will fly out to contest the World Championships. “They’re pretty big dates for me – they’re down as selection dates almost. Certainly at London World Cup I’ll need to be in that team or knocking on the door.”
Looking ahead to February, Ben is conscious of the strength of the opposition in the flagship team pursuit event, pitching the squad amid the top four teams in medal contention; “we’ve got our work cut out – there are four teams in the running – there’s us, the Kiwis, Australia and the Russians. It’s going to be a great competition - all we can do is try out best which we are doing – everyone’s committing 100 percent.”
Although team pursuit will be Swift’s all consuming focus for the coming season, the Team Sky pro also has his sights set on selection for the Olympic Road Race, though he’s the first to admit that despite GB gaining a full rider quota, selection will be tough. “I want to give it full gas for the team pursuit but I don’t want to say that I’ve got the road race to fall back on because it’s going to be super hard to get into that team”.
