Rio-bound Bennett gets All Black support
He perched in front of the television to watch the Atlanta Olympics as a six-year-old; now George Bennett is Rio-bound after an eye-rubbing 24 hours in France.
The Nelson pro rider was named as New Zealand’s solitary entry in the Olympic men’s road race next month, amid a 20-strong cycling team confirmed on Saturday. Bennett, 26, then hopped on his bike for Team Lotto Nljumbo to finish 29th in the eighth stage of his maiden Tour de France in the Pyrenees, behind a dominant Chris Froome, before snapping a roadside photo with former All Black Conrad Smith.
Let’s talk lifelong dreams. Bennett’s was to be an Olympian ever since he was given time off school to watch Atlanta in 1996. Not long after, he dreamed of being a Tour de France rider, and was probably keen to meet an All Black, too.
‘‘Honoured to get the call up for Rio. Very very special for kiwis,’’ he tweeted.
While the likes of Great Britain, Italy and Spain will have five riders on the start line at Fort Copacabana on August 7, Bennett will be the only one displaying the silver fern after Cycling New Zealand gave up one of their road quota spots to enable young Auckland sprinter Zac Williams in as reserve for the gold medal favourite track sprint team. That meant bad news for Jack Bauer who finished a creditable 10th in London four years ago after team-mate Greg Henderson faded due to illness, and won silver at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014. It’s been a tough year for the Takaka rider after he missed selection for the Tour.
‘‘We’ve got a world champion sprint team and it was our decision to transfer one of those road spots to allow us to have a reserve to ensure full cover for that sprint team to deliver the right bright coloured medal in Rio,’’ said Cycling NZ’S high performance manager, Mark Elliott.
"We all know how Jack has performed on the world stage but he had a really disrupted last 12 months, a major injury last year then coming back another couple of crashes and a couple of subtle injuries and it hasn’t allowed us to give that consistency.’’
Bennett, meanwhile, is flying along. He finished top-10 overall in the Tour of California and was hugely impressive in last month’s Criterium du Dauphine, matching it with the big names in the penultimate
stage which ensured his first Tour start.
‘‘He’s done some pretty special things in a couple of the big races. George will be out there on his own in the Olympic race but that’s also sometimes a good thing as well, just to be able to sit there without any support and tee off others and George is good at that, on this course which is so hilly it’s certainly going to suit him,’’ Elliott said.
Veteran Hayden Roulston was the other talking point after he snared one of the five team pursuit spots, eight years after he won silver and bronze on the track in Beijing. The 35-year-old returned from a road career for one final crack at Rio, and edged out Alex Frame and Nick Kergozou from the seven contenders training in Europe.
It was a proud moment for Roulston but he likened the cutthroat final selection to the reality show Survivor. ‘‘It hasn’t stopped us training hard and supporting each other, but there’s been some anxiousness at night talking about what’s going to happen, in the run in to the announcement. It wasn’t the nicest time but we all knew that two of us were going to miss out,’’ Roulston said.
Another high-profile casualty was London keirin bronze medallist Simon van Velthooven who missed out along with fellow sprinter Matt Archibald, as they went for a specialist team sprint rider Williams as the reserve.
Elliott said four medals was the cycling team’s target, with world champion Linda Villumsen (road time trial), Eddie Dawkins (keirin), and the men’s sprint team all genuine gold contenders while the men’s and women’s pursuit teams are podium chances.