Cycling: Ulmer drops out to tackle injury

MELBOURNE - For once there will be no fanfare when Sarah Ulmer arrives back in Cambridge this week.

The low-key return will be fitting as she takes a break in a bid to restore the sport's reputation as a podium filler at the September's world road championships in Austria.

The sight of Ulmer condemned to a supporting role in yesterday's Commonwealth Games women's road race neatly encapsulated the trials and tribulations of the cycling squad in Melbourne.

Earmarked as a saviour after the track squad failed to plunder gold, the Olympic champion and pursuit world record holder actually arrived in less than optimum condition due to the legacy of an intermittent six-year-old back injury.

Her withdrawal from the road time trial -- an event she was picked to win -- last Tuesday set morale back and although she fronted in yesterday's Games-ending road race she was never likely to win -- and finished 17th after trying to guide Jo Kiesanowski to the dais.

The 100km journey through central Melbourne will be Ulmer's last for some time as she confirmed taking a break from the bike in a bid to win gold in Salzburg.

"I've got to fix myself up. I need to get myself right before I start competing again," she said.

"I'm going to shut it down and try and get the body right."

Ulmer has been troubled by a compressed nerve in her back since the Sydney Olympics but had been managing it successfully until the run-in to the 29km time trial.

Intensive physiotherapy got her to the start line in the Botanical Gardens for yesterday's 100km road race but it was apparent she was lacking the speed required to mount a bid to chase down Australian winner Natalie Bates, who took off with 30km to go.

"I knew two weeks ago I didn't have the grunt, but I wanted to do a job for the team," she said.

After taking a break from the endless grind of training, Ulmer intends to race in Europe before the world championships -- her primary focus since switching from the track to tarmac after the Athens Olympics.

"I'll be right (for Austria), I just have to get my back right and I'll be doing the time trial and road race," she said.

That optimistic prognosis will be like manna from heaven after the cycling squad largely lurched from disaster to disaster in Melbourne.

Targeting at least two golds, BikeNZ had to be content with two silver and two bronze -- and inclusion in the New Zealand Commonwealth Games team's list of fourth placed near misses.

Injury and illness -- to points race runner-up Hayden Roulston -- helped ensure the cyclists did not top the Games podium for the first time since 1986.

Off the track, the behaviour of endurance team members Marc Ryan and Tim Gudsell towards a female teammate while in the Games village also cast the sport in a poor light.

To that end Ulmer's recovery and Greg Henderson's determination to atone for a frustrating two weeks in Melbourne with a points race gold at Beijing in 2008 are crucial.

Mountainbiking, which supplied the second silver through Rosara Joseph, has the first opportunity to boost the sport's flagging fortunes when Rotorua hosts the world championship cross country and downhill races in August.

- NZPA