Included in Team Sky’s nine-man Tour de France line-up, announced this morning, is young British sprinter Ben Swift. Although he rode the 2009 Giro d’Italia for previous team Katusha, and started last year’s Vuelta, this will be the 23-year-old’s debut on the sport’s biggest stage of all.
“I am really delighted that I will be one of the [nine Team Sky] riders,” said Swift, “in what will be my very first Tour.
"As a child I used to dream of one day riding the Tour de France. I used to answer questions from the teachers at school with ‘I will ride the Tour de France’ and ‘I want to be a professional cyclist’. They told me I had to work hard at school because it probably wouldn’t happen. That was my dream and this year I am so pleased that I get to live out my dream.”
In the 2009 Giro, aged just 21, Swift finished third on the first road stage, tenth on stage seven, then eighth on stage 13, on his way to finishing the race. Last year’s Vuelta started similarly well; he finished seventh on stage two before being forced to abandon by the stomach bug that swept though the team. The entire team later quit the race after the death of team soigneur Txema González, who had also suffered from the bug.
Swift is relishing his third chance to ride a Grand Tour, especially as he is realising a lifelong dream to appear at the sport’s biggest race.
“Going to the Tour de France will be a very proud moment for me as it is something I have wanted to do all my life,” he said. “To make it even better, I am going there in a British team, with a British rider [Bradley Wiggins – ed] that has a very realistic chance of finishing on the Podium.
“I hope to show myself in the sprints and try and beat my 3rd place stage finish that I had in the Giro 2009,” he added. “Every time I pin my number on my jersey in this race, I will be filled with excitement. I am really looking forward to it, the team is riding well and we can’t wait to get going against the World’s best riders.”
Swift has already taken on, and beaten, and number of the World’s fastest sprinter this year, having taken victories in the Tour Down Under, the Vuelta a Castilla y León and the Tours of Romandie and California. Everybody will be on their best form for the Tour de France, and if he can perform there he will have truly established himself among the best.