As a sprinter, Ben Swift could hardly have a better name; the 23 year-old Sky rider from Rotherham recently scored his third win of the season, taking stage five of the Vuelta Castilla y Leon to add to his two stage wins in the Tour Down Under.
In second place was Movistar’s ‘born again’ flyer Francisco Ventoso (Spain) and in fourth place Rabobank’s former world sprint champion Theo Bos (Holland).
With four wins already in 2011 and the 2010 Paris-Brussels to his credit, Ventoso is in the big league of sprinters and a major scalp for Swift’s belt.
The first entry in Swift’s palmares is second in the 2003 British novices scratch championship on the track.
The following year he took his first national champion’s jersey, in the junior points race; and by 2005 had a win in the Dortmund UIV Cup (U23 six day) to his credit, partnered by Geraint Thomas.
The big international wins began to come in 2007 when he took a stage in the major Italian U23 stage race, the Giro Delle Regione.
His track roots weren’t neglected though, with victory in the European U23 team pursuit championship.
The following season he established himself as one of the big U23 names in Italy with wins in the Coppa della Pace, Coppa G. Romita and a stage in the Pro Tour talent scout’s shop window, the Giro della Valle d’Aosta.
Whilst he had a spell as a stagiaire with Barloworld in 2007 it was 2009 when he signed his first pro contract, with Russian Pro Tour squad, Katusha.
Second place in Nokere Koerse and top three’s in stages of the Tour of Qatar, Pais Vasco and Giro d’Italia were capped with a win in stage seven of the Tour of Britain – a strong debut by any standard.
Last season started in controversial fashion with a tug of war for his services between Katusha and new kids on the block – Sky.
As might be expected of a team sponsored by Rupert Murdoch the men in black and blue got their way and Swift’s allegiance switched from Moscow to London.
The season didn’t quite sparkle as much as observers perhaps expected; but the early part of it was spent with the GB team looking for team pursuit gold in Copenhagen.
Despite a 3:55 in the final the rainbow jersey eluded the GB men and it was the Tour de Picardie where Swift scored his first win of 2010; soon adding to it with the final GC in the same race.
There were no such problems of a slow start to 2011 with two stage wins in the Tour Down Under starting the year nicely for him.
VeloNation caught up with Swift recently, speaking to him during his buildup for his next target, the Tour of Romandie. He’ll contest stage three today, a lumpy stage which includes first and second category climbs, but is followed by a downhill and then flatter terrain near the finish. Depending on how things play out, there’s a chance a big group could sprint it out for the win.
VeloNation: You’ve taken a stage in the Vuelta Castilla y Leon – that’s another good addition to the palmares, Ben.
Ben Swift: Yeah, I’m really happy; it was great to finish the week on a high.
We decided that we wanted a result in the last stage and covered everything – we had Pete Kennaugh in the first break and when that came back we put it in the gutter until the next move went and we had Alex Dowsett in that.
VN: Russell Downing was 5th on stage one and 3rd on stage two – why did you get the lead out for stage five?
BS: I rode for Russell on those early stages but I was feeling good for stage five and told the guys – we agreed that they should ride for me.
VN: Does the team do sprint drills?
BS: We do training drills at camps, yes – but we race so much now that we get plenty of practice and we all know what we’re doing.
VN: And do you do specific sprint training yourself?
BS: I train to improve every aspect of my riding – except time trialling.
The thing about sprinting is that it’s not just about the finish – you have to able to sprint well when you attack to open the gap.
VN: You must have put in a good winter?
BS: I think it was the best winter I’ve ever had; I live in Tuscany during the season but was back in the UK for the winter. I went over to the Isle of Man to train before the weather became really foul and then to Majorca – and after that, Australia.
VN: Was not riding the track Worlds a disappointment?
BS: I think that the reason I’m going so well is the preparation I did for the track. I had really good road form going in to the Tour Down Under, I was ready to race; but I couldn’t transfer that to the track.
Maybe I took it for granted that I could transfer road form to the track and didn’t do enough track work?
VN: You were sixth in the omnium at the Manchester World Cup...
BS: The omnium is a super hard event; I was off my best in Manchester but was second in the elimination race and sixth overall. It’s not something I’ll pursue because I’d have to sacrifice the road for it and the omnium can be a bit of a lottery.
I’ll decide my track future coming in to the European Champs in November – whether or not I go for the team pursuit.
VN: Sky is now in its second year of existence. How does the 2011 version compare to that from last year?
BS: It’s always difficult when a new team is set up, there’s a huge learning curve and it takes a while to get to know each other. But this year it feels different; much more like a team.
There are older guys on the squad who give good advice but they also listen to what the young guys have to say – communication is good.
VN: What’s your favourite parcours?
BS: Rolling terrain where the selection takes it down to 40/50 guys; Romandie is a race I like; it’s next on my programme.
VN: And what’s after Romandie?
BS: The Tour of California and then the Tour de Suisse – I hope to ride the Vuelta again; but to have a better experience that we did last season. (Note: the team retired from the race as a mark of respect to team soigneur Txema Gonzalez who died whilst the race was taking place.)
VN: Do you still have a coach?
BS: I still work closely with Rod Ellingworth and Dan Hunt – even if it’s to use them as a sounding board; but they keep coming up with new ideas, we talk about things and I’m always learning.
I mix old school training with new style – I train on ‘feel’ but always have my SRM cranks on. I like to plan, if I schedule a ride then I’ll follow it through; but I don’t chase numbers – there’s no point in saying I’ll ride this hill at 380 watts if you’re going to race it at 420.
VN: What’s your view on race radios?
BS: An interesting one with plusses and minuses; they’re good for safety but I like racing without them – I think I’ll sit on the fence!
Maybe a good solution would be for one guy in the team to have one?
VN: And if you could win just one more race?
BS: Milan – Sanremo, the Ronde or the Worlds.