Ben Swift

Ben Swift

Swift at the 2011 Tour de Romandie.
Personal information
Full name Benjamin Swift
Nickname Swifty
Born (1987-11-05) 5 November 1987
Rotherham, England, United Kingdom
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 69 kg (152 lb; 10.9 st)
Team information
Current team Team Sky
Discipline Track and road
Role Rider
Rider type Sprinter/Lead out man
Amateur team(s)
1999–? Ashfield RC
? Mossley CRT
? Scunthorpe Poly CC
?–2000 Kinesis
2007–2008 Recycling.co.uk
Autumn 2007 100% Me
2007 Barloworld (stagiaire)
Professional team(s)
2009 Team Katusha
2010– Team Sky
Major wins
Road

Stage races

Tour de Picardie (2010)
Track
Scratch Race World Championships (2012)
European Under-23 Team Pursuit Championships (2007)
Infobox last updated on
12 April 2014

Benjamin "Ben" Swift (born 5 November 1987) is an English professional track and road racing cyclist[1] who rides for Team Sky,[2] and has been with the team since 2010. Swift won the scratch race at the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.

Biography

Swift was born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, he began cycling with Mossley CRT aged 12. In 2003, he came second to fellow Olympian Steven Burke in the under 16 national scratch race championship. As a junior rider, Swift competed at the Junior Commonwealth Games, taking bronze in the points race, he won two national titles, the junior points race championship in 2004 followed by the junior scratch race in 2005. He also competed in the senior scratch race in 2005, demonstrating his ability by finishing third to take the bronze medal. Swift began competing internationally, winning several madison events. In 2012 he won the World Championship Men's Scratch Race, becoming Great Britain's first ever World Scratch Champion.

Professional career

He made his professional road debut in August 2007 joining Barloworld as a trainee during which time he won the King of the Mountains title in the Tour of Britain.

During 2008 he raced for the British Cycling development team and won his first UCI ranked race. He represented Great Britain in the 2008 Olympic Games road race and at the UCI Road World Championships where he finished fourth in the under 23 race.

Katusha

After the championships he signed a two-year professional contract with the new Russian Team Katusha.[3]

In 2009 he was selected to ride the Giro d'Italia. Swift finished third in the stage 2 of the Giro d'Italia. He also won a stage of the Tour of Britain. Swift spoke with Cyclingnews.com in 2009, describing himself as "an allrounder, who can do well in the Classics and win stages. 'My weakness is in the time trial. I don't like doing them and I'm not really that good at them.'"[4]

Team Sky

Swift joined the newly formed British-based Team Sky in January 2010. His transfer to Sky from Team Katusha part way through his contract has been instrumental in the Union Cycliste Internationale considering new regulations for the transfer of riders between teams.[5] During his first season with Sky Swift's most significant result came at the Tour de Picardie, at which he won one stage, the general classification, the points classification and best young rider.

Swift (leading) at the 2011 Tour de Romandie, where he won the fifth stage.

2011 saw Swift win his first stage of a UCI World Tour race, winning stage two of the Tour Down Under in Adelaide. Four days later he also won stage six. Swift won Stage 2 of the Tour of California, and took the lead of the race, after Stage 1 was abandoned due to adverse weather.[6] Swift was selected for the Tour de France ahead of Greg Henderson,[7] and finished 6th on Stage 15.[8]

In 2012 Swift focused on track cycling with a view to representing Great Britain in the 2012 Olympic Games. On 4 April, Swift won the Scratch Race at the World Championships to take the rainbow jersey. He finished second in the points race, and joined forces with Geraint Thomas to take silver in the madison.

Swift was scheduled to ride the Giro d'Italia, but was forced to withdraw after suffering a broken shoulder in a crash during a training ride the week before.[9] Although he failed to gain selection from the long list for the British Olympic team, he was picked for the Team Sky squad for the Tour of Poland, winning the second and fifth stages, as well as wearing that Tour's red-and-white points classification jersey[10] Swift was selected as Sky's sprinter at the 2012 Vuelta a España, and finished second on Stage 18.

In March 2014, Swift achieved one of his biggest results to date by finishing third in Milan – San Remo.[11] In April 2015, Swift crashed out of the newly created Tour de Yorkshire, injuring his shoulder.[12]

On 19 March 2016, Swift finished second in Milan–San Remo, being narrowly outsrprinted by Arnaud Démare (FDJ).[13]

Palmarès

2004
1st Points race Junior National Track Championships
2005
1st Scratch race Junior National Track Championships
1st Rotterdam Junior 2-day madison
1st Nights 1 & 2
1st Dortmund Under-23 3-day madison
2006
2nd National Team Pursuit Championships
2007
1st Team Pursuit European Under-23 Track Championships
Giro delle Regioni
1st Final Stage
1st Mountains classification
3rd Milan-Busseto
1st Mountains classification Tour of Britain
2008
1st Coppa della Pace
1st GP Coppa Romita
1st Stage 5 Giro della Valle d'Aosta
4th UCI World Under-23 Road Race Championships
2009
1st Stage 7 Tour of Britain[14]
2nd Nokere Koerse
8th Gran Premio di Lugano
10th Gran Premio Dell'insubria
2010
1st Overall Tour de Picardie
1st Stage 2
1st Young rider classification
1st Points classification
2nd Team pursuit World Track Championships
2011
1st Stage 5 Vuelta a Castilla y León
1st Stage 5 Tour de Romandie
1st Stage 2 Tour of California
3rd Overall Tour Down Under
1st Stages 2 & 6
2012
World Track Championships
1st Scratch race
2nd Points race
2nd Madison (with Geraint Thomas)
Tour de Pologne
1st Stages 2 & 5
1st Points classification
2013
3rd National Time Trial Championships
3rd Trofeo Palma de Mallorca
5th Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana
10th Trofeo Campos–Santanyí–Ses Salines
10th RideLondon-Surrey Classic
2014
Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
1st Points classification
1st Stages 1a & 1b (TTT)
1st Stage 5 Tour of the Basque Country
2nd National Road Race Championships
2nd RideLondon–Surrey Classic
2nd Trofeo Ses Salines
3rd Trofeo Muro-Port d'Alcúdia
3rd Milan – San Remo
8th Nokere Koerse
2015
2nd Overall Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali
1st Points classification
1st Stage 2
3rd Trofeo Playa de Palma[15]
3rd RideLondon–Surrey Classic
7th Trofeo Santanyi-Ses Salines-Campos
9th International Road Cycling Challenge
9th Japan Cup
2016
1st Points classification Vuelta a Andalucía
2nd Milan - San Remo
8th Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race[16]

References

  1. ↑ "British Cycling Biography". British cycling.
  2. ↑ "Sky Procycling (SKY) – GBR". UCI World Tour (Union Cycliste Internationale). Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  3. ↑ Stephen Farrand (26 September 2008). "Swift Impresses in his Final Amateur Race at World Championships". Cycling Weekly.
  4. ↑ Susan Westemeyer (21 April 2009). "A Swift start to his career". CyclingNews.
  5. ↑ Shane Stokes (4 January 2010). "Swift set to move to Team Sky". CyclingNews.
  6. ↑ "Swift wins delayed start to Tour of California". Reuters. 17 May 2011.
  7. ↑ Nigel Wynn (23 June 2011). "Sky's Tour de France squad announced: Swift selected | Latest News". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  8. ↑ Simon_MacMichael on (17 July 2011). "Tour de France Stage 15 reaction: Cav says green jersey not won yet, Swift feeling better as race goes on | road.cc | Road cycling news, Bike reviews, Commuting, Leisure riding, Sportives and more". road.cc. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  9. ↑ Cycling (4 May 2012). "Giro d'Italia 2012: Ben Swift's training injury disrupts Team Sky's preparations but their focus remains". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  10. ↑ Cycling Weekly. "Ben Swift wins second stage of Tour of Poland". Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  11. ↑ "Milan-San Remo Results". Cycling News.
  12. ↑ Peter Cossins (1 May 2015). "Tour de Yorkshire favourite Swift crashes out". Cyclingnews.com (Future plc). Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  13. ↑ http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/ben-swift-on-milan-san-remo-second-is-the-worst-place-217478
  14. ↑ "The Tour of Britain 2009 – Results – Stage 7". 18 September 2009. Archived from the original on 18 September 2009. Retrieved 18 September 2009.
  15. ↑ "Pelucchi sprints to Trofeo Palma victory". cyclingnews.com. 1 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  16. ↑ Woodpower, Zeb (31 January 2016). "Solo ride from Peter Kennaugh lands Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race victory". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 31 January 2016.

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