Cycling: 'Short-sighted' focus hurting road racing

Greg Henderson would love a crack at the Tour de France. Photo / Mark Mitchell

European-based professional Greg Henderson struggles to see where the next Julian Dean or Hayden Roulston will come from if BikeNZ continues what he believes is a "short-sighted" focus on track cycling.

The 2004 scratch race world champion has switched to the road full time this year after several seasons of balancing the two disciplines.

It is a move Henderson wishes he had taken several years ago, but he feels he was caught up in the obsession with track cycling in New Zealand.

"BikeNZ has to change their mentality a little bit in regards to road cycling, because everything's just track, track, track," he said.

In March, the Herald on Sunday revealed BikeNZ's base in the south of France was about to be scaled back.

BikeNZ will instead move its male operations from Limoux in the French countryside, where it has been since 2005, to Belgium, near Ghent. The terrain is level and there is a quality velodrome close by.

It's a system tested when they stuck the Olympic track team into a 10-week block in Belgium pre-Beijing.

It also dovetails with Olympic pursuit bronze medallists Sam Bewley and Jesse Sergeant getting feeder contracts into Lance Armstrong's under-23 team and team-mates Marc Ryan and Westley Gough looking for more European pro-riding opportunities.

High-performance manager Mark Elliott says the move has also brought a change in strategy on how many athletes they target, with numbers likely to be restricted to eight.

"In the past we learned a lot of athletes weren't ready for the step up in intensity of racing in Europe. Now we'll monitor athletes in shorter six- to eight-week blocks, bring them home then send them over again, rather than a five-month sustained programme where most athletes are toast by the end. We want long-term development over four years."

Henderson said he understood BikeNZ's motivations.

"You can totally understand it because we win medals on the track now and that's where the funding comes from, but it's a little bit short-sighted I feel."

Henderson is one of four New Zealand professionals based in Europe but says there is no pathway to the pro tour for aspiring road cyclists to follow.

He wants BikeNZ to follow the Australian example and set up a European base for up-and-coming riders.

Australian under-23 riders are based in Varese, Italy, and at least one or two pick up professional contracts every year.

"Until we get that sort of system in place, it's going to be just dribs and drabs that turn pro," Henderson said.

Henderson is having his best season as a professional, having already won four races in 2009. He attributes his success to the time he has spent away from the track.

However, he was unable to force his way into the Team Columbia line-up for the Tour de France.

"That's the problem with Columbia, there are other guys [in the team] who missed the Tour as well who've won stages in the Tour de France before," he said.

The Tour quite literally passed by Henderson's doorstep in Gerona this week, but rather than watch his Team Columbia team-mates roll by he was out on a four-hour training ride.

Henderson believes he belongs in the world's premier cycling event and sometimes finds watching it difficult.

The Columbia logjam has Henderson assessing his options for 2010, with his contract up at the end of season.

"Team Colombia has been awesome, it's a great team, it's the best team in the world and they've been really good to be, but who knows where I'll be in a couple of years' time."