Ben Swift RR Comments

Ben Swift's Olympic Road Race Experience

Story posted August 11, 2008 (photos from Phil O'Connor)

British Cycling's Race Report from the Men's Road Race

On Saturday, Ben Swift, took the roads in Beijing for his first taste of riding a major championship road event, the Olympic Road Race no less. Ben has had a great year with several Italian wins and many many top 10 placings. But riding International Under 23 events and riding with professional riders at the peak of their game was always going to be tough but Ben did the country proud by going as far as he did when all round him many an established star was wilting in the heat.

After the race and all the fuss had died down, Ben was able to recall his experiences for British Cycling:

Asked how he found the race and the experience of tackling such a major event, Ben wrote “the plan today was to look after Steve as best we could, and try to look for the early break. I missed the break but Jonny was there so I could sit back with Steve and try to look after him as best I could.”

“The race was good and I had quite good legs from the start. It just got faster and faster each time up the climb but it was a little disappointing to come so close to finishing the race on such a hard circuit but I was on my own with one lap to go so I pulled into the pits.”

“I am though really happy with how it went because my big goal of the year is still to come. The World Championships (Under 23s) is about 60 -80k shorter than the Olympic RR and I was feeling really good at that point so its all good.”

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The Climb
The big feature of the Olympic road race was the climb. We asked Ben who has spent a few years in Italy now riding climbs, about the one in Beijing. “The best way to ride the climb was to be at the front. The first time up I was right at the back and I paid for that but I never made the same mistake. You could use the descent to get right to the front and then just hold your place and then you had plenty of sliding room if you need it. I tried to use the easiest gears possible early on to try and save my legs as best I could.”

The Heat, Humidity and Pollution
Judging by the comments from many of the riders who didn’t make it to the end, established professionals, the conditions were a big factor. We asked Ben how he found them?

“It was really hot out there but we are quite use to the heat living out in Italy so even though that was a big factor, it was the humidity that was the worst. It was hard to breath at times but once you got use to it and into a rhythm, you could handle it. They had a cold shower half way up the climb and that really helped and every rider was under it each lap and using a bottle of water over your head each lap also really helped.”

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Finally, the Olympic Experience.
With countries sending teams packed full of road stars, we finally asked Ben how was it to line up and ride alongside such major names in the sport?

“It was a really good experience one that I will take with me to London 2012 should I go. Just learning how the pros go up the climbs and knowing how fast they are going to go at the end really helps. The experience of riding along side some of the riders was great as well because normally you only see them on TV and so on, and riding at the side of them seeing they are struggling too makes you feel a little better!”

Thanks to Ben who we hope to see soon in the Tour of Britain.