Cycling: Games can't keep up with pro offers

BikeNZ bosses hope Jack Bauer will be able to race. Photo / Getty Images

Men's road cycling shapes as a candidate for having the most diluted level of international competition at next month's Commonwealth Games.

For rugby sevens, netball and bowls, the Commonwealth Games could pass as a pinnacle international event but few of the other 14 sports meet that criteria.

The road race and time trial are particularly vulnerable at the height of the European cycling season, with the sport's powerhouse nations largely coming from non-Commonwealth Europe.

In essence, the issue filters down to the football equivalent of a club-versus-country argument. Some professional teams have annual budgets estimated between $20 million-$30 million, so there are no prizes for guessing where athlete loyalty lies.

The world's premier road race, the Tour de France, started this morning (NZT) and runs until July 27. Two New Zealand riders are involved — Greg Henderson (Lotto-Belisol) and Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp) — and both are also in the Commonwealth Games road team.

With the time trial scheduled for July 31 and the road race August 3, BikeNZ bosses hope Henderson and Bauer will be able to race.

New Zealand's original team has already been ravaged.

James Oram, Hayden Roulston and George Bennett withdrew either because of injuries or professional opportunities. Another contender, Sam Bewley, is unavailable as he prepares for the Vuelta a Espana with Orica-GreenEdge, starting late August. His build-up event, the Tour of Poland, starts on the same day as the Glasgow road race.

That means, of the original six riders, only Jesse Sergent appears guaranteed to start.

BikeNZ high performance director Mark Elliott accepts it's the nature of the sport.

"The reality is, as a national sporting organisation, we don't own the cyclists. Pro teams outline what they can and can't do for the year. Many of those teams are based in European nations who don't really know anything about [the Commonwealth Games] so it's hard to control which riders you can access. The Australians and the English have the same issues.

"The athlete's point of view needs to be taken into account. If you're building for a grand tour like Sam [Bewley] or George [Bennett], you can't just rely on one-day races. That's probably hard for some New Zealand sports fans to understand, but that's what these guys have to do to secure their futures.

"If you ask those riders individually, they'll tell you they love nothing better than putting on a New Zealand jersey ... but pro teams pay the bills."

Elliott said contingency plans were in place for Tour de France casualties when they named the team. That means track riders — the medal focus for BikeNZ in Glasgow — might be seconded to the road team later in the Games depending on how Henderson and Bauer shape up after the Tour.