The New Zealand cycling team go to this week's world championships with high hopes. Michael Brown talks to two riders who hope success in Copenhagen is only the beginning.
Success becomes that much more difficult when you're a marked man. Tapes are studied and dossiers prepared on what type of cyclist you are and what needs to be done to stop you.
In the past couple of months, other countries have noticed what Southland cyclists Eddie Dawkins and Tom Scully have achieved. Dawkins won the sprint title at the recent World Cup event in Beijing on top of three national titles he collected. Scully won the scratch race and madison at last November's World Cup racing in Melbourne and followed that up with bronzes in the madison and points race in Beijing.
Both will compete at this week's world championships in Copenhagen brimming with confidence – but they will find themselves up against not only the world's best riders but also ones who might now know who they are.
"If I saw an English or Dutch rider doing what those kids had done, we would be finding out a fair bit about them," says BikeNZ high performance manager Mark Elliott. "A lot of cyclists go through a stage when they are unknown on the world stage by their competitors and the results Eddie and Tom had recently was a reflection of that, as well as great form and great coaching. It gives them that moment of opportunity to seize a result and they took it.
"There's no doubt they are two very talented athletes. We have every right to be excited about their future, especially considering their age."
Dawkins and Scully are just 20, an age that classifies them as mere boys in a sport of men. In the sprinting world, for instance, the world champion is 34 and most sprinters don't reach their peak until their 30s.
Dawkins is currently the best of an exciting group of young sprinters in whom BikeNZ are investing considerable time and resources following the IOC's change of direction in track cycling – which puts more emphasis on sprinting rather than endurance events.
With the oldest in the squad just 22, their goal was the 2016 Olympics (and it still is the primary aim) but the success of the young sprinters has forced something of a re-think. Success at the London Olympics in 2012 is now not out of the question for Dawkins, Sam Webster, Simon Van Velthooven, Adam Stewart and Ethan Mitchell. The irony isn't lost on Dawkins. For years people told him there was no point being a sprint cyclist. It was fortunate he didn't listen.
"Now there are six medals at the Olympics for sprinters and two medals for endurance [riders]," Dawkins says. "It's exciting. The Olympic champion is 34 so I have time on my side. If he's still going good at 34 and I'm only 20 and going this good, big things can happen in the next couple of years. I want to win gold at London or 2016."
Elliott says it's not out of the question and the biggest thing driving Dawkins' progress is the competition he faces on a daily basis.
"Eddie's got four other young kids chewing at his heels, which is crucial because sprinters are very competitive," Elliott says. "It's a game of aggression and he will want to do everything to remain top dog.
"Instead of having a one-dimensional sprint programme, we have a number of juniors coming through. We have always said that the sprint programme is a 2016 project but the gains these guys have made in a short space of time have exceeded our expectations.
"Most sprinters are men and, to be fair, these boys are still boys physically. They still have a lot of power to develop in the gym so there are massive potential gains there."
New Zealand have targeted a top-six finish in the teams' sprint while Dawkins would be happy with qualifying for the first round (top 24) of the individual sprint.
"World Cup [meetings] is one level but world champs is where everyone is going their best," Dawkins says.
"For me to qualify and to get into that first round will be a really big achievement."
* * *
Tom Scully was taken to November's World Cup meeting in Melbourne to gain experience. He left with two gold medals. It was an exceptional performance from the then 19-year-old and in the 15km scratch race (first across the line wins) he made a powerful move on the final lap to beat a strong field, led by world champion Chris Newton.
It prompted BikeNZ to change their opinion of their new prodigy and he now goes to Copenhagen as a genuine medal chance in both the points race and madison, which he will ride with the experienced Marc Ryan.
Scully is a rider Elliott describes as an "incredibly gifted athlete" and one who has qualities, like putting himself into a gap, that are uncoachable.
"You can give people the kiss of death but he's got the potential to be one of the greatest track cyclists around if he continues the growth he's shown over the last 12 months," Elliott says. "Knowing what he is, he has every chance of being on the podium in the points race and madison – but he will be marked now.
"Everyone will know who Tom Scully is and they will be addressing that. That was the position Greg Henderson found himself in a couple of years ago."
Sadly for Scully, though, he won't be able to ride his favoured events at the Olympics. He will continue to ride the points race and madison at both the world championship and Commonwealth Games but will soon join the team pursuit squad as well as put time into the omnium (cycling's equivalent of the decathlon) as he looks ahead to the Olympics.
"It's a bloody shame, really," Scully says to the changes to the Olympic programme that have seen both the points race and madison dropped. "I enjoy the madison and love racing it. They still have it at the world champs and to be a world champion is still a big goal of mine.
"But in the future I will look to the team pursuit or the omnium. Both of those events suit my style. There's still hope for an Olympic gold yet."
EDDIE DAWKINS
Age: 20
Lives: Invercargill
Events: Individual sprint, team sprint, kilo time trial Dawkins got into cycling after a family friend took him down to Invercargill's Kew Bowl, an old concrete velodrome exposed to the elements, as a 12-year-old. He began to take it seriously at 16.
TOM SCULLY
Age: 20
Lives: Invercargill
Events: points race, madison, scratch race Scully grew up in Cromwell but moved to Invercargill when he was 15 to train and race at the new Southland velodrome. He lives with his aunty and uncle.
WORLD TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS
Copenhagen, March 24-28
New Zealand team:
Men: Sam Bewley (Rotorua), Eddie Dawkins (Invercargill), Wes Gough (Waipukurau), Peter Latham (Te Awamutu), Ethan Mitchell (Auckland) Marc Ryan (Timaru), Tom Scully (Invercargill), Jesse Sergent (Feilding), Myron Simpson (Auckland), Adam Stewart (Christchurch), Simon Van Velthooven (Palmerston North), Sam Webster (Auckland).
Women: Rushlee Buchanan (Te Awamutu), Gemma Dudley (Levin), Lauren Ellis (Hinds), Jaime Neilsen (Hamilton), Alison Shanks (Dunedin).
