KEY POINTS:
New Zealand cyclist Hayden Roulston has to clip two seconds off his best time in the individual pursuit - and do it twice on the day - to be a medal contender at the Beijing Olympic Games.
That's easier said than done and now the multi-talented Roulston is
at the crossroads in his hunt for an Olympics gold.
At the world championships which ended in Manchester on Sunday, Roulston was the busiest Kiwi rider competing in the individual pursuit (4th), the team pursuit (4th) and then the madison (9th) with Greg Henderson.
He will have to take a leaf out of Athens Olympics gold medallist Sarah Ulmer's book and concentrate on one event if he is to achieve the Olympic gold medal he so much wants - or spread himself thin and chance winning nothing.
Roulston proved he is world class in the 4000m individual pursuit when clocking four minutes 18.334 seconds in qualifying at the world championships in Manchester last week.
It was three seconds better than the national record he had set a month earlier at the national championships with limited preparation for this event.
Roulston was unable to back that time up in the ride-off for bronze, clocking 4min 23.663sec against Russia's Alexei Markov who finished in 4min 21.097 seconds.
Ron Cheatley, the national coach in road and track at four Olympics between 1984 and 2000 and four Commonwealth Games between 1982 and 1998, feels it will be a big ask for Roulston to ride three events at the Olympics, diluting his chances for a podium finish.
"You can't really concentrate on or prepare for three - you can only prepare for one and hope the other two just work in," he said.
"The teams pursuit will fit - it will complement his training for the individual pursuit (but) it will be difficult to do a lot of madison training and you just have to accept that."
European nations also had the upper hand in the madison because their combinations regularly raced together whereas Henderson and Roulston, geographically separated, did not have the same opportunities.
Henderson races in Europe with his trade team High Road (formerly T-Mobile) while Roulston has stayed home after dedicating himself to winning a track gold at the Olympics.
The pair finished ninth at the world championships.
Cheatley, who is a mentor for Roulston, said he was not surprised his time in the individual pursuit at the world championships.
"The raw material was always there. It's just a matter of training specifically for it and Hayden will get quicker and quicker.
"Before he went away to Manchester, I told him he was capable of a 4:17 if everything went right and he came out with a 4:18 which was pretty close.
"Hayden won't be happy until he's in that ride off for gold at the Olympics but he's got to find another couple of seconds.
"It doesn't sound much, but two seconds is quite a long way at the speeds they travel.
"I'm sure when he gets home and starts working on the specifics, he's got a good show of doing it...
"The thing he has to work on is to be able to back it up - he's got to do it twice (in the same day), let's hope by the time the Olympics come he'll be able to do that and he'll be right there."
Cheatley said Roulston's path to becoming a top track cyclist had been diverted a few years ago when he had been snapped up for road racing, first by French professional team Cofidis and then Discovery Channel.
"He's always had it in him to win an Olympic title and he's realistic enough to know it ain't going to come on the road now.
"The chance for him is on the track and now it is whether it will be in this event, the team pursuit or even the madison."
An indication of Roulston's huge abilities lay in the fact he did double turns at the front as the New Zealand team smashed the national record by five seconds at the world championships.
Roulston, Marc Ryan, Westley Gough and Sam Bewley clocked 4min 00.833 to qualify third fastest and then went a tick slower, 4min 01.993sec, to be pipped by Australia in the ride-off for bronze.
"Anybody who can ride double turn and the team go four minutes shows just how fast the guy is - nobody rides double turns in four minutes, no one in the world does that," Cheatley said.
"To think that he can do it and lift the New Zealand team like he did is great.
"To see a New Zealand team get down to four minutes certainly brings a lot of joy to my heart.
"We been chipping away for years and years and to take five seconds off the national record was incredible - we're right there.
"It's been a long time coming - we have got to the point now where the men's pursuit team can challenge for a medal and I think it will be one of our premier events in cycling at the Olympics anyway."
- NZPA
