Cycling: On a wheel winner

When Bike NZ declared it had targeted four medals at London 2012, it wasn't met with guffaws even though four is cycling's total haul in 13 Olympic campaigns.

Cycling is taken very seriously at the highest level these days and it's why last week it was allocated $12

million by Sparc over the next four years. That puts it in the same bracket as the Olympic glamour kids of rowing, although their money needs to be spread across the four disciplines of track and road cycling, BMX and mountainbiking.

It's on the track where Bike NZ are putting most of their efforts. As high-performance director Mark Elliott says: "Track cycling is the culture of what New Zealand has been built on."

It is, but it's also where the most promise lies. Never before have so many good riders come together at once.

Cycling was the surprise package of last year's Beijing Olympics, with a haul of two medals and two fourth-placed finishes. Cycling, like beige, is sexy again.

There are various theories about why this is so and many pinpoint the work done by Elliott.

"If you look at the turnaround for cycling, I really believe Mark coming on board was a significant part of that," says national track coach Tim Carswell. "He's put in place some pretty smart strategy and people around him.

"We were already planning for 2012 before the 2008 Games had even been held. I think we were the only sport in New Zealand doing that."

Elliott was the brains behind New Zealand's highly-successful triathlon team at the Athens Olympics and then headed up winter sports in this country before moving into cycling in July 2007.

"There's no magic bullet," says

Elliott, who is also Bevan Docherty's coach. "It's about doing the basics and doing it right.

"One thing about New Zealand cycling is the athletes have always had the talent but what they haven't had is the clear vision of what they could have in the long term.

"It's about what the programme could be in four years and not tomorrow. If you have athletes and coaches who have a similar philosophy and vision, it's a pretty easy thing to start tracking along because people aren't too busy worrying about what's going to happen tomorrow."

You also need the raw material.

Before 2004, New Zealand had won only seven medals at junior world championships.

Since then, 17 have been banked.

It is in pursuiting, both men's and women's individual and teams, where New Zealand's greatest potential lies.

Hayden Roulston won silver in the individual pursuit in Beijing but Jesse Sergeant has already broken his national record and the squad of Roulston, Sergeant, Sam Bewley, Westley Gough, Marc Ryan and Peter Latham is world-class.

Alison Shanks was fourth at her first Olympics in the individual pursuit and heads the women's programme.

Women's team pursuiting is a relatively new sport, and it's not even an Olympic event yet, but New Zealand have built a team around Shanks. They signalled their potential when they captured a World Cup victory in Beijing in January.

Hayden Godfrey is also a world omnium champion, an event which could be added to the Olympic programme in London.

Last year in conjunction with Sparc, they introduced a 'Power to the Podium' programme that tested athletes of any sport to see if they could excel at cycling. Rowers like Sonia Waddell and Jamie Nielson tried out and Nielson is now a member of the pursuit squad.

"We believe we have the athletes and programme to win four medals in London," Elliott says matter-of-factly. "It's not about winning those but the process of getting there."