News – Ben Swift’s Rio Ambitions

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Sheffield’s Ben Swift to look at the option of riding the Omnium for Great Britain at the Rio Olympics

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News – Ben Swift’s Rio Ambitions

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Interestingly, Team Sky’s Ben Swifth from Sheffield has announced he is throwing his hat intot he ring to ride the track at Rio 2016. Talking to road pros, many have dismissed going for a place on the track due to the amount of time it will take them away from the road but Swift has confirmed that he wants to look into the prospect of riding the track.

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Ben Swift having a drag race with Alex Dowsett on the boards of Manchester.

Saying that the road race will be too hilly for him, Swift will talk to the Endurance coach at the Great Britain Cycling Team, Heiko Salzwedel to assess the viablity of making such a bid for a tough event.

“I don’t really want to go down the route of committing to a full-time track programme and it’s how riding the omnium would affect that” he told British Cycling’s Luke Webber.

Swift took part in his first omnium since February 2012 in Portugal and finished fourth. The format for the Omnium was changed before this season’s World Cup season and the Points race, the final event of the six, carries a lot more opportunity to come back from a low points score in the other events.

“The old format was very much around the timed disciplines so you could never really make up for a bad event” Swift says. “Whereas now finishing with the points race makes it a lot more of a racers’ race, which makes it a lot more appealing.”

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Third in Milan San Remo is a career highlight for Ben Swift.

“My full focus for the moment is back on the road, but you’re always planning the next few weeks and months ahead at the same time. The first step was to get the experience of the new omnium format, to get some points on the board and the next step is to do another omnium with a lot more fitness, to be able to race it at 100% and go from there”.

“Obviously the later into the season it is, the fitter I am going to be. I would like to treat an event like that like a mini target in itself. Beyond that, the World championships in London will be massive and it would nice to be a part of that. It’s very likely you’re going to be going to the Olympics if you’re at that event.”

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