In it for the long haul as coronavirus puts a spoke in plans of top cyclist Ben Swift

Fast-forward 12 months, and although on lockdown like the rest of the cycling world due to the coronavirus pandemic, Swift is talking optimistically about extending his career in the World Tour peloton into his late 30s.

What happened in between imbued Swift with a renewed sense of belief.

Firstly, and most critically, Rotherham rider Swift became national road race champion in Norwich last June.

His was one of the more uplifting victory laps in the prestigious race, one that brought universal acclaim from the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish, because finally a man who had sacrificed so much for them was getting his just rewards.

Secondly, Swift began to redefine his role as a cyclist, from opportunistic sprinter to reliable domestique.

Had the coronavirus pandemic not struck, Swift – injury-free for the first Spring season in three years – was at peak sharpness and eyeing a role as an able lieutenant in Team Ineos’s Tour de France squad.

The suspension of the cycling season for the foreseeable future has left the sport’s calendar in ruins, with three-week stage races like May’s Giro d’Italia already postponed with no signs of when or if it might reappear in 2020.

But Swift is looking long-term as he celebrates his 12th year in the sport’s elite tier, and a ninth season with Sky/Ineos.

“In cycling if you’re still enjoying it, and you’ve still got the motivation, you can extend your career and go quite late,” Swift told The Yorkshire Post from his base on the Isle of Man.

“I’m 33 at the end of this year, so maybe that’s just another six years, maybe not, maybe five years. I definitely want to try and make the most of it.

“Physically and mentally, I’m actually the strongest I’ve ever been on the bike.

“My dynamic as a rider has changed a little bit, I’m not as punchy and as fast in the bunch sprints any more.

“I’m going down that route of taking my opportunities and then doing a really solid job in the mountains. I’m climbing the best I’ve ever climbed.

“So it’s a little change in the way that I am but I feel like I’m getting stronger.”

Sport’s unpredictability may have other ideas, and Swift has had his fair share of injuries, but there are many examples of riders who have sustained competitiveness in the highest echelons.

But Swift will be true to himself. If the legs cannot keep up, a man who has remodelled himself over the years and fought back to earn a new contract at Sky/Ineos after an unsuccessful two-year hiatus with UAE Team Emirates, will not hang about.

“It all depends if you avoid any more big crashes, and what happens with teams,” says Swift, who was an Olympian way back in 2008 in Beijing, which further illustrates his longevity.

“I’d like to go to that sort of age. As soon as I start to struggle with it, that I can’t keep up with the training or I’m not producing, then I’ll know it’s time to stop.

“It’s too hard of a sport to not give 100 per cent.

“I’ve done my whole career in the top level of cycling, for me when I retire I’ll retire from this level.”

All of which makes the current predicament even more frustrating.

If Swift was in such good shape, now would be the time to be cashing in, not back home keeping his legs ticking over on the roads of the Isle of Man.

The two-time Tour de France rider was due to spend most of his early-season riding the Spring Classics, before headlining his home Tour de Yorkshire in May and then competing for a place in Ineos’s roster for the big race in July.

“It’s been massively frustrating because everything had gone so well this winter,” he says.

“I’d trained really, really well. I was super happy with how everything was.

“My first two races have gone really, really well and now it’s put a spanner in the works, but of course we’ve got to put health and safety first, it’s only bike racing at the end of the day.

“I was building up towards the Italian races – Strade Bianchi, Milan-San Remo, Torreno Adriatico, into the Classics, they were the races I was down to ride.

“And then I really wanted to get selected for the Tour de France, but that’s going to be even harder now, especially with the Giro not happening, we (Ineos) will put an even stronger team out for the Tour.”

Even as they wait, Swift and his fellow riders do not know how hard to push themselves in training, given they could be out of race action for anything from three weeks to three months to further into the future.

“All you can do really is train hard,” says Swift. “I’m in regular contact with my coach, it’s almost like an extended boot camp.

“I was in really good shape and it’s just a case now of trying to manage that condition.

“Problem is no-one knows how long it’s going to be and that makes it quite difficult with your training, trying to manage that.

“Do we take a break? Do we back off the intensity? Nobody really knows.”