Five Ineos Grenadiers riders have had their contracts extended, including two stalwarts, it was revealed on Friday afternoon.

Michał Kwiatkowski and Ben Swift are among the five that will continue to ride into 2026, along with Lucas Hamilton, Kim Heiduk and Brandon Rivera.

Kwiatkowski, 35, joined Team Sky in 2016, and the former world champion will continue with the squad until at least 2028. Meanwhile, Swift was part of the original Team Sky lineup in 2010, and has been at the squad ever since, apart from two years he spent at UAE Team Emirates.

In a press release, the former said: "“It feels natural to stay. I love the atmosphere, the people and the way we work. I’m not here to stay in my comfort zone, I’m here because this is where I push myself every day. I feel joy when things go well and I feel supported when they don’t. That’s cycling - one day you’re on top of the world, the next you’re fighting through a tough moment. It’s been an amazing journey so far, but it’s not over yet.

"This team has been my home for so many years, and I still feel the same hunger and motivation every time I pin on a number. What keeps me here is the people, the trust and the shared ambition to keep performing at the highest level."

Kwiatkowski had an interrupted season after suffering a knee injury at Strade Bianche; he has won Amstel Gold Race twice, Milan-San Remo, and two stages at the Tour de France in a decorated career.

Swift, 38, has become a reliable road captain at Ineos, after being a sprinter earlier in his career. "This team has been such a big part of my life and to head into an 18th season as a pro is fantastic," he said. "I still love the racing, the camaraderie and the purpose we all share. It’s a privilege to help guide the younger riders and play my part in the next chapter of the Grenadiers.

"Our team is on a real upward trajectory and I am looking forward to playing a role in that progression. I can’t wait to kick off the 2026 season and to get racing."

The press release says that he will "continue for another season", implying it might be his last. It has been reported elsewhere that Swift is in the process of his sports director qualifications.

Hamilton has a two-year extension, while Heiduk and Rivera have one more season.

Geraint Thomas, Ineos' newly installed director of racing, said: "It’s brilliant to have these five lads continue with us. They all bring something a bit different and they’ll be key to what we want to do next season.

"With Kwiato, he’s been part of the biggest victories in the team both on a personal level and also in a supporting role, so keeping him involved and having his experience in the rider group is hugely beneficial.

"Kim and Brandon have come on loads since joining the team. They’re just so solid - it doesn’t matter what the race is, they go there, are good and give their absolute best.

"Lucas only joined last year, but he’s a great character to have around with a typical Aussie spirit which we’ve always had to some extent over the years. He had a really strong Giro, impressed across a range of other stage races and will have plenty to contribute in the coming seasons.

"And then there’s Swifty. He’s the elder statesman now, but last season he proved exactly why experience counts. He did a bit of everything, across loads of races, and every single time he was just rock solid. Swifty sets the tone for the younger lads coming through and will play a big part in helping them get to know what bike racing is all about."

Ineos Grenadiers have announced three new signings for 2026: Kévin Vaquelin, Dorian Godon and Embret Svestad-Bårdseng.

Earlier this week, Daniel Benson reported that the team are closing in on signing Australian sprinter Sam Welsford, and that there is interest in signing Oscar Onley, too.

Ineos Grenadier's new CEO, John Allert, has said the British team will do all it can to help get the Tour of Britain back on the calendar. 

Allert outlined his ambitions for the WorldTour team moving forward in a call this week. He spoke at length about Ineos’ British identity and heritage and explained that the Tour of Britain was still considered an “important race” by the Grenadiers. 

The future of the race hangs in the balance after British Cycling retracted the race licence from the former organiser, Sweetspot, last Autumn. This was due to the firm owing the national governing body £700,000 in unpaid race licence fees. SweetSpot has since entered liquidation and further creditors have now emerged. 

It’s understood that more detailed plans regarding the race's future will be made public next week by BC.

Allert said on Tuesday that the current situation around the race was unfortunate but explained that Ineos Grenadiers will do all they can to support BC in getting the Tour of Britain back on the calendar in 2024. 

“We're obviously very interested stakeholders in terms of, you know, a 'home race'. I think it's very sad… maybe this underpins the potential need for change," he said.

“All I can say is as a team with British heritage you know, we will work with any stakeholders, British Cycling or any commercial stakeholders, to as quickly as possible see a Tour of Britain back on the calendar," he continued. 

“I think it's an important race, not just for the UK, but I think some of these national races are huge opportunities for local riders, non WorldTour teams, and for local fans and having a gap on the calendar like that is not good for the sport.”

As well as organising the Tour of Britain, SweetSpot also organised the Women’s Tour. It’s understood that BC is  looking at plans for a women’s stage race to replace the SweetSpot equivalent on the calendar too.  

"Something needs changing" in British domestic scene

Ineos rider Ben Swift, who rode the Tour of Britain 10 times, told Cycling Weekly at the Tour Down Under that he was saddened by the whole situation surrounding both races.

"It's a massive shame," the two-time British champion said. "We already saw last year when the Women's Tour got stopped. I don't know what exactly was going on there, but I know that even the routes and everything were announced really late last year. They were struggling. 

"It's a shame, just the whole situation in Britain, we went through the boom in cycling in the lead up to the Olympics, and it's just a shame to see all the domestic teams disappearing too."

This sentiment was echoed by Owain Doull of EF Education-EasyPost, who has raced the Tour of Britain seven times, for the Great Britain team, then Wiggins, then Ineos Grenadiers.

"I think it's a massive shame to be honest," the Welshman said. "The Tour of Britain has always been one of my fondest and favourite races. It's pretty much the race, which gave me the opportunity to turn professional back in 2015. It's a massive shame because I think from a rider's perspective, it's a race we all love. 

"From a fan's perspective, it's always super well supported. The roads are always packed. It's not like we're racing in front of nobody. I don't know what the next steps are with it. Hopefully, the men's Tour of Britain and the Women's Tour can come back."

A British Cycling spokesperson told Cycling Weekly last week: “We are making every possible effort to ensure that the Tour of Britain and a UCI Women’s World Tour stage race take place in 2024 and beyond, and will be in a position to provide further details in the coming weeks.” 

"It [racing in Britain] needs to drop off to then rebuild," Swift said. "Something needs changing, right from the very basics of racing. We need more domestic racing, more kid's racing. I remember watching the Tour of Britain as a kid, with all the fans. It's a great race for preparation for the Worlds. Hopefully it'll come around, it'll sort itself out. It's going to be hard."

"I feel for a lot of the British guys who don't have a clear pathway," Doull said. "I think before you were on a British men's conti team or racing in the UK, you kind of had that as an aiming point. Knowing that this is your shop window. That if you were good across those seven or eight days, you have that opportunity to become a professional. 

"If a British guy did a good ride at the Tour of Britain, the chances of them getting a professional contract was good, which is also a testament of how high all the professional teams rated the race."

It is not all doom and gloom for British cycling, however, with more British professionals in the WorldTour peloton than ever before - 33 men and 22 women - but riders are forced to go abroad for experience, especially for second-tier male teams.

"There's so many young British pros around," Swift explained. "We've got a list with our British guys on. When I was younger there were about six of us on the elite. Now we have 35/40 guys in this group now, which is incredible. The level in domestic racing is so much higher than they used to be, there's just nowhere for them to show it. The Tour of Britain was great for that. It's not often you race on home roads, I guess it's just really the nationals now."

Geraint Thomas headlines a strong eight-man line up for Ineos Grenadiers at the British National Road Championships in Redcar and Cleveland, which take place at the end of June. 

According to the provisional start lists released by British Cycling, the Welshman will ride both the elite road race and individual time trial across the weekend in north Yorkshire, along with several other high profile riders from various WorldTour squads.

“I’m really thrilled to be back and racing at Nationals, which will be the first time for me in the road race, at least, in about 10 years," Thomas said. "It looks like a tough course that will make it a very hard race. It’s going to be great to be back out and racing after recently completing the Giro d’Italia – I can’t wait to get out there!"

Along with Thomas - who recently finished second at the Giro d’Italia - Ben Swift, who has won the national championships on two previous occasions, will race for Ineos, along with Josh Tarling, Ben Tulett, Connor Swift, Ben Turner, Leo Hayter and Luke Rowe in the road race.

One notable absence on the road race start list is Mark Cavendish, who outsprinted both Sam Watson of Groupama-FDJ and Alex Richardson, now of Saint Piran, in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland last year. 

Cavendish will skip the opportunity to defend his title as he guns for a record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win in his final attempt at the French Grand Tour. Cavendish recently announced that the current season will be his last as a professional as he is set to retire at the end of the year.

Thomas’ status will inevitably make him the favourite for victory on the punchy, hilly circuit in north Yorkshire. However, he will face stiff competition from the likes of Bahrain Victorious’ Fred Wright who is also set to ride both the road race and the time trial at the championships, and his teammate Swift, who is going for a third title.

Elsewhere, EF Education-EasyPost will field a strong trio of Owain Doull, Simon Carr and James Shaw in the road race. Sam Watson - current under-23 national champion - is also set to return for Groupama-FDJ along with Jake Stewart and Lewis Askey.

Jumbo-Visma's Tom Gloag will also be another WorldTour threat along with Stevie Williams and Mason Hollyman of Israel-Premier Tech.

Other riders of note who will hope to challenge the likes of Thomas and Wright in the road race include Alex Richardson (Saint Piran), Matthew Bostock and Jacob Scott of Bolton Equities Black Spoke as well as Rob Scott of Cross Team Legendre.

Scott, along with the Bolton Equities duo, rode for the AT85 Pro Cycling squad until the end of last year. Bostock and Jacob Scott both moved to the ProTeam level with their new team whereas Rob Scott was part of the AT85 setup until its recent demise.

As well as Richardson, Saint Piran will arrive in north Yorkshire with a team stacked full of ability. Jack Rootkin-Gray, Zeb Kyffin, Will Tidball, Harry Birchall and Rhys Britton are all set to travel for the Cornwall-based squad.

Saint Piran recently completed a clean sweep of the podium at the Lincoln Grand Prix, with Richardson claiming the top spot of the podium for a second time.

The men’s road race at the British National Championships will take place on Sunday 25 June. Other riders from the WorldTour who are set to race include James Knox (Soudal Quick-Step) and Harrison Wood (Cofidis). 

Ben Swift believes that moves to replace chunks of the race programme of the British Cycling academy with a new reliance on external development teams is a positive step forward for cycling, and will only encourage rider development. 

Speaking to Cycling Weekly, Swift explained that he feels the access to the development wings of trade teams is only a good thing for British riders.

“I spoke to a few of the guys that are on the academy now about them being sent into different development trade teams. I think it’s quite a good thing now and shows progression of the sport in general,” he said. 

“A lot of the big teams do have development teams whereas when I was younger it didn’t happen. Our main pathway was through the track then developing and progressing that way.

“I think it’s just a testament to cycling really how that’s progressed. I think putting the guys in development teams like that will progress them and give them massive skills in controlled environments,” he added. 

Yesterday, Cycling Weekly revealed that changes to the academy road setup will see riders working with development teams in Europe alongside receiving support from the academy. 

Academy head coach Matt Brammeier said that working with development teams in Europe will provide much more race day experience for his riders along with other important development opportunities.

“When you’re racing in Europe you’ve got a million and one things to think about including learning a language, and gaining a bit of independence. So this is a benefit to them and will help them in the long run,” Brammeier said. 

His opinion was echoed by Swift: “These development teams, the way that they’re run, they can ride professional races up to a certain level so they’re getting that little bit more exposure there.

“When I was in the academy, obviously we did the Tour of Britain and stuff like that, which are pro races, but I think it’s good now to have these teams and they are going to get a much higher level of exposure to racing.” 

Swift explained that he feels nowadays it’s crucial for young riders to get into Europe for racing opportunities due to the standard of racing in Britain not being at a sufficient level. 

“I think it’s crucial to be in Europe really. Unfortunately, I don’t think the standard in Britain is high enough. If anything, it’s declining,” he said. 

“There’s less and less teams and it’s just not professional enough in Britain. Obviously you’ve got the Tour of Britain but as a continuous racing experience, you need to be on the continent, that’s where the racing is at." 

Ineos Grenadiers have completed their lineup for 2022 with the announcement of five contract extensions on Tuesday.

Those continuing to ride with the British team into the next season are Ben Swift, Brandon Rivera, Salvatore Puccio, Jonathan Castroviejo and Cameron Wurf. The five re-signings mean Ineos Grenadiers will have 31 members next year.

Swift, Rivera and Wurf have all been handed one-year deals, while Castroviejo and Puccio will ride on until at least 2023 with the squad.

British champion Swift was one of the founding members of what was then Team Sky, and has been at the team continuously aside from two years at UAE-Team Emirates.

He has twice made the podium of Milan-San Remo, and has won multiple races for Team Sky and Ineos Grenadiers, but has developed into more of a road captain in recent years.

"This team has always been home to me," he said in a team press release. "I’ve spent so much of my career here and I feel like I keep growing. I keep developing, keep learning, and that’s something this team is incredibly good at. We never sit on our laurels. 

"Now I’m really excited by this young group of riders coming through and I want to help them progress, while getting the best out of myself, doing the best for the team, and helping push these young guys on. It’s very exciting."

Puccio has spent his whole career with the team, and is an invaluable domestique, being part of four grand tour wins, and riding 15 in total. He has never won a race in his 11 years in the pro peloton, but has been praised for his selfless riding.

"I feel as though I get stronger every year here and I cannot imagine myself on another team," the Italian said.

"I feel part of a family and I always have done, since the moment I became a Team Sky rider. I’ve been a part of so many special memories for the fans of our team and it’s been an incredible time. I always strive to be at my absolute best to help our leaders make history and I can’t wait to continue this journey."

Another super-domestique staying with the team is Castroviejo, who was part of both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France lineups in 2021. The multiple Spanish TT champion has been a key part of four grand tour wins as well.

In the Ineos Grenadiers press release, he said: "I am really happy to be staying with this great team, I feel at home here and consider it the best place for me to be, it really fits my mentality. I have a lot of friends, and enjoy being a part of such a great atmosphere. I like the way we work together, and I hope to keep helping my teammates secure big victories and grow our palmarés even further over the coming seasons."

Wurf joined Ineos as a last-minute replacement for Vasil Kiryienka in 2020, combining his domestique duties in road racing with training for triathlons. The multiple Ironman champion is targeting the Ironman World Championships in October.

"Ironman is a very individual sport but I never feel like that now," Wurf explained. "I love the fact that I can go and do that and then come back to help the team in a role I really love. It’s so fulfilling to be able to play the role of domestique and help our guys win. It motivates me to go and win myself in Ironman and the guys really make me feel special."

Colombian climber Rivera also joined the team in 2020. While he did not ride much in 2021, competing in only 22 race days, he will be continuing to work for the team until the end of next year. 

Ben Swift says the Yorkshire 2019 World Championships road race was the hardest he's competed in during his career, with torrential rain and cold battering riders throughout the 261.8km race.

Great Britain's designated leader, Swift eventually finished down in 31st place at over six minutes down on winner Mads Pedersen, who won from a three-man breakaway group ahead of Matteo Trentin (Italy) and Stefan Küng (Switzerland).

>>> Philippe Gilbert says he doesn't understand how World Championships crash happened

Tao Geoghegan Hart was Britain's best placed (and only other) finisher in 26th, in a race that saw only 46 of the 197 starters reach the finish line after nine laps of the 14km Harrogate circuit. Those who did finish, including Swift, looked visibly drained from their efforts during the brutal six-and-a-half hour race.

"It was a really tough day out there," Swift said at the finish.

"I think it's probably the hardest [Worlds] that I've done. Each one's been a little bit different you know; Qatar was pan flat and the crosswinds in pretty warm weather. The thing that you had here is really short punchy climbs which in this weather made it really difficult.

"I got really cold there as well towards the end," he added, "and when it's already cold like that you know you need to start stripping off getting ready for the finish. But we gave it a good shot."

The 31-year-old British champion said he chose not to follow the move of Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) and Trentin with 33km to go, instead banking on the race coming back together ahead of the finish line.

Despite it quickly becoming clear that the leading group would stay away and the Belgian team were unable to pull it back together, Swift said he never considered climbing off before the end of the race in front of his home Yorkshire crowd.

"You don't want to give up, you go until you can't go no more and that's pretty much what I did," Swift said.

"[When Trentin went] I was just trying to wait to the finish really, I was just racing tactics.

He added: "[The atmosphere was] incredible. I think the atmosphere was building and building and I think it was amazing to see so many people in pretty bad weather, so thanks to them."

Ben Swift has reflected on his undulating fortunes as he is set to lead the men’s road race team at the Yorkshire 2019 World Championships.

The Yorkshireman has been resurgent this season, winning the British National Championships and being selected for the home team in the Worlds.

But earlier this year, the Yorkshire World Championships were far from Swift’s mind as he was in intensive care in Tenerife after an awful training crash.

>>> Mathieu van der Poel: ‘I’m not the strongest but I’m one of the favourites for the Worlds road race’

The 31-year-old said: “When you’re laying there in intensive care you never really know, coming back is one of the last things on your mind, but once you start to recover and you’re awake a bit more it’s the only thing you want to do.

“Once you’re outside of that danger zone, it’s all about getting fit first, and once I started going well again then it was a big focus on this World Championships.”

Swift had been training in Tenerife with Geraint Thomas, who will be riding in a support role on Sunday (September 29), when he clipped a rock on a descent and went down hard.

He suffered bleeding from the spleen, which required immediate treatment.

Swift, from Rotherham, made a full recovery and has been back to his best, winning the British national title in June and riding aggressively through week-long stage races in the build-up the Worlds.

On his British championship win, Swift said: “That was really special.

“I’d been through a lot of stuff in the last couple of years. I’d tried something new with UAE [Team Emirates] and it hadn’t really worked out.

“To get the British Nationals, something I’ve been chasing for a long time, it was a nice moment.”

Swift spent seven years with Team Sky early in his career, before he made the switch to UAE in 2017.

But after struggling for results, he returned join Sky, now Team Ineos, at the start of 2019 and has found his form once more.

He will benefit from the support of a Team Ineos-heavy British squad in the men’s road race, including Thomas, Ian Stannard, Tao Geoghegan Hart, and Owain Doull, with Adam Yates rounding out the team.

“Last year I was in a bit of a bad place,” Swift said.

“I didn’t know if it was the end of my career, or if I was going to go back to race in Britain or what.

“Now I’ve just got a new two-year deal and I’m actually in a really happy place. My home life is really good, my professional life is really good, barring the injury, which is a recurring theme in my career, it’s perhaps been my best year.”

>>> ‘It’s been a big year, mentally and emotionally’: Geraint Thomas committed to riding for team at World Championships 

On his chances for the race, Swift said: “I’ve always gone well in hard one-dayers.

“We’re by no means the out-and-out favourites, but we’re the home nation and we’ve got a lot of strong riders in the team.

“Hopefully, we can just fly under the radar a bit and get the best result possible.

“Obviously we want to win. To get that jersey would be amazing, but if you got a podium you’d be really happy.”

Ben Swift has extended his stay with Team Ineos, signing a new contract that will see him ride with the team through to the end of 2021.

The British champion, who took victory in the Nationals road race in Norwich in June, rejoined Team Sky for 2019 after a spell at UAE Team Emirates. Swift had previously spent seven seasons with the team before leaving in 2017.

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The 31-year-old has endured a turbulent year, spending time on the sidelines with injury after a horrific training crash in February, before returning to take his only victory of the season at the National Championships.

Despite only one victory to speak of, Swift has impressed on his return, riding particularly strongly at the Tour of Poland and Deutschland Tour in the last month or so.

Swift says that rejoining the team this year has given him "renewed enthusiasm and motivation for the sport" and that it was "hugely satisfying" to return to the levels he has following his crash.

"I feel like I’ve found a renewed enthusiasm and motivation for the sport this year, so this new contract feels rewarding for many reasons,” Swift said.

“I think that’s down to the team and the way I’ve been riding this year. When you’re really happy somewhere and the environment of the team suits you like it does for me here, it really helps you to get the very best out of yourself.

“I don’t think anybody was expecting me to get back to the levels I’ve achieved this year [following the crash],” he said, “so it's hugely satisfying. It’s been a really pleasing season so far."

Swift will next ride the Tour of Britain starting on Saturday, with an eye on a potential spot in the Great Britain line-up for the World Championships road race later in September in his home county of Yorkshire.

Team Ineos have also extended with two other British riders this week, Welshman Owain Doull and Tour de Yorkshire winner Chris Lawless.

Doull, 26, has extended for two more years after a breakthrough season which saw him score his first major Classics result with second at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and is currently riding his first Grand Tour at the Vuelta a España. Lawless has also been handed a new two-year deal after taking the biggest victory of his career with the overall at the Tour de Yorkshire in May.

Ben Swift is optimistic about his recovery after a crash that left him in intensive care not long after he re-joined Team Ineos.

The Brit was just days into his Tenerife training block in mid-February when he hit a rock while descending Mount Teide and went down hard.

Swift was in intensive care and spent a week in hospital in Tenerife, after suffering a bleed on his spleen.

>>> Tao Geoghegan Hart abandons Giro d’Italia 2019

The 31-year-old had only just made his return to British WorldTour outfit Team Ineos, but was forced to spend five weeks off the bike.

He said: “You can only look forwards. I had a lot of thinking time – I spent a week in hospital and it was obviously quite a serious crash.

“I missed out on some of my important races for the year, but I refocused and recalculated.”

Swift made his racing return at the Tour de Romandie in late April, despite doubts over his health after he discovered he had also broken his hand in the crash.

But the Rotherham-born pro finished the race and found his form returning in Switzerland.

He said: “I was pleasantly surprised in Romandie. I was going better even than I was hoping to be.

“Since the crash I’d had a few niggles with my knees, and we found out I’d broken my hand, so I was a little unsure going in to Romandie.

“I was missing that little bit to be competitive, but with a race in the legs now and having done some focused work I’m feeling good.”

He added: “If Romandie had been tougher it would have been tough on my head. I’d have been questioning myself a little bit.

“But it gave me a big motivation boost.”

>>> James Knox forced to abandon Giro d’Italia 2019

Next on the calendar Swift is the Hammer event in Stavanger later this month, before heading to the Tour of Norway.

He is also looking ahead to the British National Championships and the Worlds in Yorkshire later this year.

“I’m looking forward to Norway first and foremost," Swift said.

"I’ve had some nice experiences in Norway and I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do.

“It will be six days of good, hard racing. Hopefully then it’ll be on to the Tour de Suisse all being well, and I’ll be able to do a good job for the team there.”

He added: "As bad as it is having an injury like I just had, and such a scary crash, it makes you so thankful to be in a team like this.

"Within a matter of minutes I was being looked after and then the support I’ve had to get me back to this point, where I can go to Norway with ambition, is so good.

"Generally in myself I’m a lot happier, more content, and I think that shows in the racing and in my training.”

Ben Swift has posted on social media the after-effects of his training crash in Tenerife which resulted in a ruptured spleen.

Having re-signed for Team Sky in the off-season after leaving them at the end of 2016, Swift was training on the Spanish island with Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas when he took a tumble.

However, the Yorkshireman posted good news that he was being discharged from hospital as well as a few pictures on his Instagram account.

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"It’s been one long week in hospital but I have made really good progress and I have finally been discharged and will be on my way home tomorrow," Swift wrote.

"Big thank you to everyone that showed concern and gave me well wishes, reading it all helped pass the time. Looking forward to recovering and getting back with the @teamsky boys"

Despite the superficial injuries of the facial wounds and road rash, further scans revealed he had ruptured his spleen.

This led to doctors operating on Swift last Wednesday to reduce the risk of further bleeding.

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He was set to line up at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne this weekend, which is now not possible.

But Swift still hopes to ride Milan-San Remo in March, a race that he has finished on the podium twice in his career, third in the 2014 and second in 2016, which was his final year before leaving Team Sky for UAE Team Emirates.

Ben Swift is recovering in the hospital in Tenerife, Spain, following a heavy crash on Wednesday and a ruptured spleen.

He was training on the island with Sky team-mate and Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas.

Swift, who began racing with Team Sky again in 2019, hopes to return in time for Milan-San Remo – only one month away on March 23. Doctors will possibly move him from intensive care on Friday.

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"I'm still in intensive care. Hopefully I'm moving out of here today," Swift told Cycling Weekly. "My spleen has been stabilised."

Swift already began his season with Sky with the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, where he spirited to third on stage two, and the Tour de la Provence.

In Spain, he was training ahead of a programme that was due to include the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on March 3. On a training ride with 2018 Tour winner Geraint Thomas, Swift hit a rock or something in the road.

"It was the same colour of the road on a shaded section," he continued.

He suffered facial wounds and road rash, but scans revealed fractures. However, he ruptured his spleen. Doctors performed an operation on Wednesday afternoon to reduce the risk of further bleeding, explained Team Sky

"Thankfully though, he didn't lose consciousness and was aware of the incident afterwards," Team Sky doctor Inigo Sarriegui explained.

"We will continue to monitor him over the coming days, but 24 hours on from the crash he is already feeling better."

Swift, who raced the last two years with UAE Team Emirates, remains optimistic.

"Because I didn't have to have it removed then I guess once I am out of hospital it shouldn't be to bad," he said.

"I am guessing Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne is off schedule, but I hope to keep my plans for Milan-San Remo."

Swift placed third in the 2014 Milan-San Remo and second in 2016, his final year before leaving Team Sky for UAE.

Ben Swift says he missed Team Sky’s unity as he took a podium finish in the Volta a Valenciana stage two sprint.

The Brit is making his 2019 debut at the Spanish stage race after re-joining his home team at the start of the season.

Team Sky charged in the closing kilometres, but were swamped by solo efforts from rival sprinters in the final turns as Swift held on to take third.

The 31-year-old said: “The guys were incredible – it’s what I’ve really missed, that real team unity.

“We waited ever so slightly too long just as we started the final push on the lead-out.”

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Fellow Brit Chris Lawless was the final lead-out man supporting Swift in the final kilometre.

But sprinters Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and stage winner Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) passed the remains of the Sky lead-out heading into the final two turns, with Trentin taking the glory.

Swift added: “They came up three or four kph faster than us so it was just about trying to catch up.

“It was a really good job from the guys and the legs are feeling good.

“With Chris [Lawless] being a second year pro it’s really good experience for him to do a lead-out.

“He’s going to be the sprinter for this team in the next couple of years, so for him to learn what he needs and what he wants of a lead-out rider is good.”

Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas was also working for Swift, leading the race with 10km left to race.

>>> Geraint Thomas confirms he won’t ride Giro d’Italia to focus on Tour de France defence

Thomas and team-mate Diego Rosa are the best placed Team Sky riders after stage two, both sitting 20 seconds down to race leader Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data).

Swift added: “It’s nice to get a good result.

“It shows I’ve been training pretty well and I handled the climbs really well.

“But in hindsight I wish I’d gone a little bit earlier.”

The race continues with a hilly third stage that is likely to separate the general classification further.

Ben Swift says he is close on a contract with a new team for next season, as he leaves UAE Team Emirates after two difficult years.

The 30-year-old refused to elaborate on who the new team might be, but said an announcement would be made soon.

Swift joined UAE at the start of 2017 after seven years at Team Sky, hoping to make the jump into an outright leadership role, but has struggled to get results through a mix of injury and mistakes. The Brit says he has nonetheless enjoyed his time with the Middle Eastern team, and that he has no regrets about joining the team when he did.

"I'm pretty close on a team, we're in the final discussions now, so hopefully there should be something announced in the next few days," Swift told Cycling Weekly at the Hammer Series in Hong Kong.

"I've enjoyed it [at UAE], it's been different. It was something I needed to do; it was a now or never moment in my career and I needed to try and see if I could be something better.

"It just didn't really work out. I accept that and going forward I just need to change my outlook a little bit, I still want to have success and do well, but also in a dual role as well.

Ben Swift  (Sunada)

"When I signed here I signed as and out and out leader, I'd have a bit of support. I think what I perform better in is working for the team and taking those opportunities when they come. I think I just put myself in a bit better position generally anyway by doing that."

Swift impressed with his versatility at Team Sky. His best results, a third and second place in Milan-San Remo in 2014 and 2016 respectively and a stunning stage victory in the Tour of the Basque Country, pushed his stock to its height, but he failed to translate that form with UAE.

His best performance since joining the team came at the World Championships in Bergen in 2017, where he placed fifth amongst a stacked field, as well as an impressive second place on the finish to Alpe d'Huez during that year's Critérium du Dauphiné.

Crashes in training and at the Tour of Flanders set Swift back with injury during the 2018 season, but despite being unable to secure any major results since returning, he has found a new team for next year. He races for the final time with UAE at this week's Tour of Guangxi,  but will play a bigger support role next year in his new team - a position he says works better for him.

"It's just been a bad year to be honest. Especially because once I got in really good condition there was always a problem, I started late this year on purpose and got in real good condition but I actually had a real bad crash in training and it just sets you back a little bit. And it always seems to be the case where I'd get better, be in top condition and something would happen - that's cycling.

"For whatever reason it didn't work out this year, I had my goals ambitions, I was supposed to go to the Giro but I broke my back in Flanders and I there is where I made the biggest mistake, I came back too fast and it just messed up the rest of the season really.

"Definitely results like [Milan-San Remo] mean that whatever team I'm in I get given those opportunities, but I'm not after a sole leadership role. I'm going to put something back into the team and help with the young guys in the team and then be given freedom in certain races that I know I can perform in."

Ben Swift is heading to Milan-San Remo hoping to rekindle some of the magic that brought him podium finishes in 2014 and 2016. However the Rotherham born rider is unsure of his form in what has been a stop-start season to date.

The UAE Team Emirates man had to pull out of Paris-Nice before stage six with blocked sinuses and a cold in what were unfavourable weather conditions.

“I think everyone was generally sick at Paris-Nice, our team only had one guy finish," Swift said.

"When we were heading to the high mountains and with the weather predicted to be how it was, it was better to call it quits before the weekend because it is a hard enough race already.

"It’s a bit of a shame because I was looking forward to the last weekend and especially the last day but it is just how it is really.”

"I still got a lot of the work done and I’m feeling ok now so we’ll have to see what happens at the weekend.”

>>> Fernando Gaviria injury forces Quick-Step into Milan-San Remo rethink

Milan-San Remo is where Swift has had great success in his career with a second place finish in 2016 and a third place result behind current UAE Team Emirates team mate Alexander Kristoff in 2014. But the former Team Sky man is aware he may have to sacrifice his own ambitions for Kristoff’s gain.

“We all arrive later today and will have a chat to finalise the plan, but if it does come down to a sprint and Alex is there then we will pull for Alex.”

Despite being unsure of his top end form due to the illness at Paris-Nice, Swift is approaching the first Monument of the season with an open mind.

“Before I would be trying to see the options on those final climbs and see what was happening. But I’ve just got to go in relaxed and enjoy it," he said.

With his podium finishes proving his experience at 'La Classicissima', there is still hope that Swift will be there or thereabouts when the peloton reach the crunch point of the race.

“I know how to race the race and how to look after myself, with Milan-San Remo that is half the battle because it’s so long race. But you’ve also got to react to the moment, so we’ll have our cards to play.”

"I was on Twitter one day and I saw another brand talk about an owners’ ride and it looked very kind of… not amateur but not very organised,” recalls Yanto Barker in his famously languid way. So the former pro and owner of the Le Col clothing brand decided to do something about it.

“I thought, we should do that. Ten times as well. I have a good relationship with Windwave who distribute Colnago, I ride a Colnago, have been sponsored by them and I know they’re a brand that has the most loyal following of any in the industry — so there should be a Colnago day.”

And so there was a Colnago day. On September 30 last year around 160 owners plus WorldTour pro Ben Swift, who rides a Colnago as the team bike of UAE Emirates, gathered on the manicured lawn of Chavenage House near Tetbury in Gloucestershire.

Barker had lined up a programme of events to celebrate the iconic Italian brand that included a 40-mile ride-out from Chavenage, an al fresco champagne lunch afterwards followed by a Q&A with Ben Swift hosted by cycling-mad TV presenter Matt Barbet.

“It’s just a cool, cool brand — it really is,” enthuses Barker. “There are bikes here that have been ridden throughout cycling history. And to have it here in this place that’s also steeped in history and culture...”

Chavenage House also happens to be steeped in cycling: the heir to the Chavenage estate is 25-year-old James Lowsley-Williams who rides for Eisberg-Canyon. Lowsley-Williams clearly relished hosting the Colnago day and was involved from start to finish, not only riding with the Colnago owners but also clearing up the paper plates from under their chairs after the Q&A.

“I wasn’t surprised by the level of Colnago fandom,” says Barker. “The head office in Italy were also really positive. It’s my ambition with Le Col to live up to that same standard — my aspiration is to be seen in the same way — so it’s really good for us.”

Was Ernesto Colnago himself tempted to make the journey from Cambiago to Chavenage?

“Windwave were at Eurobike and talked to Ernesto about it and he said, ‘Ah, I might come.’ But they were like, no, just give us this first year to iron out everything… and just come next year. So it wouldn’t be a surprise if he turns up next year.”

Neil Nash-Williams, 1974 Colnago Mexico ‘Ruby’

“Most of us in the Cicli Artigianali club are in Gaiole [at L’Eroica] at the moment and I’m in Gloucestershire which isn’t quite the same! My silly moustache was grown for that.

“Why is it called Ruby? It’s got inserts in the brakes where they’ve drilled it out and filled in a red section. You’ve got to call it something, haven’t you?

“We’ve done two of the full-distance Gaiole Eroicas — a 212km off-road ride. Never had a puncture. It’s got Royce hubs, very rare and the first time they did internal bearings — they’re brass. It’s all Super Record, everything on it was available at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW7r7XUr9yo

“It’s an undeniably brilliant ride. Every time I get on that bike I’m like, ‘oh, I’m home’. It’s like putting on an old favourite pair of shoes. It hurts me sometimes but all your bikes hurt you in some way, don’t they? But somehow I forgive Ruby more than I do the others.

>>> Inside Colnago: The making of a legendary brand

“I got Ruby through the club — we help each other source things. Obviously finding a period chrome frame is so unusual. I identified what I was looking for and then we researched every conceivable way of finding it. We have a lot of contacts. The shifters are from Australia and are all pantographed.

“The fact that somebody has actually made this and filed away all these little bits and then filled it. In a world where everything is so mass-produced it’s wonderful to find that bespoke, artisan kind of concept still. Increasingly people are gravitating towards that again. If we go up Box Hill on these we’re mobbed. People are not so keen to talk about a modern bike. “Oh, I couldn’t afford that,” you know. So it’s funny how it transcends all that.

“Amazingly, Bob, who does most of the sourcing, had the bits together in about six weeks. And it’s got to be all spot-on. You don’t want somebody saying, ‘That rear mech is wrong, mate.’”

Yanto Barker, 2017 Colnago Concept

“This is my absolute favourite bike here. They’re all nice bikes — I did ride a red, white and blue Tommy Voeckler national champion-edition C59 in 2010. But the Colnago Concept is the best bike I’ve ever ridden.

I still like riding fast — I’m retiring gradually. One step at a time.”

Steffi Smith, 1982 Colnago Mexico

“It belongs to a friend of mine, Geoff, and I’ve used it in the Eroica, 2014. It’s just a beautiful bike. I love riding it.

“I think it’s a 1982 Mexico but it’s the round tubes and it’s got the braze-on front mech which signifies 1982. It’s Super Record throughout. Pantographed chainset, pantographed 3T bars and stem. The only thing that isn’t Super Record are the Simplex shifters. In the Eighties everyone put them on because they were better than the Campagnolo ones.

“I’ve got the Super Record pedals but we’ve just put these [clipless] on today because they’re a bit easier to use really.

“These are Mavic MA40 wheels with Campagnolo hubs. The actual wheels are Ambrosio Durex rims on Super Record hubs but you don’t want to be riding on tubs today.

“The bike came from America. It’s got the serial number in the dropout — as the market there required.”

Chris Netherclift, 1992 Colnago Carbitubo

“Cicli Artigianali is a club that we set up about two years ago. We’ve got lots of old bikes and we wanted to put them on a website, show them off, let’s go for a ride… and two years later we’ve got 200 people and 300 bikes on the site. The important bit is that we’re taking the bikes out and riding them, not just hanging them on the wall.

“I’ve got the Carbitubo, the first carbon Colnago. It comes from a time before they had the knowledge to make a carbon monocoque but it’s a fantastic ride. I’ve had it about 12 months and built it up. You see the Mapei team bikes regularly but not the black and red style with the split down tube.

“It’s got Shamals, C-Record groupset, nine speed, and it’s just as Campagnolo moved to the first set of Ergo levers that weighed a ton. It’s aerodynamic but it weighs so much that it negates it!

“People want modern bikes because you can ride them into the ground and forget about them, but bikes like this evoke a memory of a bygone era… or when you were a child you saw a picture of Eddy Merckx on a Molteni. People want that bit of childhood back.

“Colnago is a classic Italian brand that is still available. It’s the memory of the classic riders.

People want to feel that they’ve got a part of that history when they buy a Colnago. We’ve lost

a lot of the English builders.

The Italians have that style that people appreciate and it comes out in the bikes.”

Andrew Simpkins, 2015 Colnago Master

“They still make the Master and it will take an 11-speed groupset, so I can put Dura-Ace on it and you get the benefit of a modern groupset with a steel frame. So it’s really nice. I’ve only owned this one two years from new but I’ve had Colnagos for 20 years — the C40s, 50s, 60s, the carbon ones.

“I bought this one because when I first really got into cycling Mapei were the big pro team so it’s an exercise in nostalgia.

“You ride carbon frames and you think, well they’re bound to be better, but you can understand why they built frames out of this kind of steel for so many years because it’s comfortable, it’s got a springy sort of feel to it.

“I race on a C60 because that’s what you’re supposed to do, but when I just want to go out for a ride it’s this one. I have four Colnagos altogether. A C40, a C59 and a C60.

“What do I like about Colnago? The paint. Some of the Art Décor colour schemes are lovely.”

Steve Hiscock, 2016 Colnago C60

“I had an M10 at first, really loved it, then came into a bit of money and thought right, I’ll get one of these as well.

“The M10 was not only my first Colnago, it was my first road bike, so I’ve always had Colnagos — a nice situation to be in! Just deciding what colour to get next. I liked the OTT-ness of it but now… we’ll see. I bought it as the frame and then built it up. My choice for the groupset was to sell the M10 and buy Campag ESP or keep the M10 and just get Shimano [Ultegra], which is what I ended up doing.”

Mick Ives, 2017 Colnago C60

“This year [2017] I did the whole Giro route on this bike. I started two days ahead of the pros and finished one day ahead. We raised a lot of money for four British charities.

“Peter Nisbet and Windwave have been my sponsors for many years [Ives is 78]. So as the distributors for Colnago they put it to Ernesto. He was up for it and agreed to supply a C60. He insisted on designing the colour scheme himself and was particularly pleased that it would be used in the Tour of Italy.

“I didn’t quite know what I was going to get but it’s beautiful. I rode it through the entire Giro and never had a spot of bother with it.

“He was so chuffed with the colour scheme that he’s now included that in the C60 range.

“I flew out a few weeks afterwards to meet him and spend some time with him. He showed me around the factory and it was a real pleasure. I signed one of the jerseys I had used and left it with him and he in turn produced a very large book about Colnago that he signed. It’s one of my most treasured possessions because let’s face it, in the cycling world he’s God, isn’t he?”

Top British professional riders Ian Stannard and Ben Swift will take part in a charity fund-raising evening on Friday, November 24, at the New Mills Art Theatre, High Peak.

Stannard and Swift will appear on stage chatting and answering questions along with Team Sky Coach and Performance Manager, Rod Ellingworth and compere, TV commentator and former pro rider Rob Hayles.

The evening will raise money for a fund set up in memory of Charlie Craig, the 15-year-old cyclocross rider who unexpectedly died in his sleep in January.

The Ride For Charlie fund helps young riders gain experience in off-road racing.

Team Sky's Stannard and UAE Team Emirate's Swift will talk about their professional careers, which both started in the British Cycling Academy. Those attending the event will have a chance to ask the riders questions.

Charlie's father and well-known off-road rider Nick Craig said: "Charlie left his family and friends in a state of shock and an incredible hole in our hearts.

"It’s nearly a year since Charlie left us and we miss him more every day. It would have been his 16th birthday in November. The #ChatForCharlie evening will be a chance to celebrate his memory and hopefully inspire the next generation and raise funds for us to be able to support up-and-coming young riders.”

A raffle will also be held on the night, and the organisers are seeking donations for prizes. Anyone wishing to donate a prize should contact Fred Salmon at the Bike Factory in Whaley Bridge fredsalmon@btclick.com or by phoning 07712 068 887.

The Chat For Charlie evening takes place from 7.15pm on Friday, November 24, at the New Mills Art Theatre, Jodrell Street, New Mills, High Peak SK22 3HJ. Tickets cost £15 for adults and £12 for those aged under 16.

Ben Swift (UAE-Team Emirates) bemoaned the mistiming of taking a drink, as a day-long breakaway proved fruitless on stage 19 of the Tour de France.

The British sprinter was part of the 20-man break that formed early on in the mammoth 222.5km stage from Embrun to Salon-de-Provence, which was won by Dimension Data's Edvald Boasson Hagen.

He felt confident of a high-placing, but missed a split late on when Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) attacked over an incline. The Yorkshireman was left frustrated and annoyed.

"I was feeling really good today, but that was a demonstration of how to mess up a race," he said. "I was having a quick drink and the next thing I knew there was a split with the strongest guys in the front.

>>> Five talking points from stage 19 of the Tour de France

"De Gendt did a little acceleration over the top, some others accelerated and it was hard to do anything. Once they were in the draft of the motorbikes, there is no way you can bring them back.

"It's the Tour de France and you don't get these opportunities a lot. I was watching everyone, certainly trying to keep an eye on Eddy and [Daniele] Bennati (Movistar) and trying to use them as much as possible.

"The sensations I was feeling were really good. It was a long day in the saddle but one little mistake and that was it, it was gone."

The Yorkshireman has finished in the top-10 of two stages in this year's Tour, but illness in the second week set him back. He harboured hopes of building an assault on the green jersey classification, but with two stages to go sits in 19th position.

"The way that Michael Matthews has gone about getting that green jersey has been impressive," he commented. "It was something I wanted to do going into the race.

"But it has unravelled. I am really sensitive to position change. I had the crash and had to change my cleats and stuff like that takes it out of me. I was then sick in the second week. But I'm happy to be going well in the final week. I need a fourth week!"

Swift will be skipping the Vuelta a España and Tour of Britain in preparation for the World Championships in Bergen, Norway. Instead he will race RideLondon-Surrey Classic, Eneco Tour, Hamburg Classics, GP Plouay and GP Québec and Montréal,

The Tour de France may seem all glamorous and every spectator may wish it was them completing a lap of the country, but La Grand Boucle does have its flaws and irritations.

While all riders enjoy riding the race, 21 stages through the French countryside and cities not only takes its toll on them physically, but there are logistic problems that compound the riders' recovery. The interest in the start villages and a nervous peloton also add to the stress.

Thomas Degand, who is riding his maiden Tour for Wanty-Groupe Gobert, said that the race is an "incredible experience" but that it isn't without its problems.

"Always, after the race, we are blocked, usually for an hour," he said of the traffic. "On stage 15, our bus drove eight kilometres in one hour and 30 minutes.

>>> Here’s the science behind why Paweł Poljański’s legs were so veiny

"We arrived at our hotel at 9pm and then we have to get a massage and eat. Then, on Wednesday, we had to leave the hotel at 9am for the start.

"In a three week race, it is very important to have maximum recovery and with this situation is it difficult to do so. When we are in the bus for two hours, it is to our loss. It is a problem but it is a very beautiful race."

Orica-Scott's Daryl Impey, who in 2013 became the first African to wear the yellow jersey, agreed with Demand, saying that "the travelling and the transfers are the worst part of the Tour. But there is no way around it - there's no easy way to do a whole lap of France."

Impey, though, said that hour before the race starts is the biggest annoyance. "Signing on, rushing to the start, fighting through a million people to sign on... it's not stressful but it's just a pain in the arse to go through everyone. I'm on autopilot now!"

>>> Luke Rowe column: It’s been fun to ride aggressively at the Tour de France

For other riders, it is the actual racing that turns their smiles into frowns. Timo Roosen, riding his second successive Tour for LottoNL-Jumbo, bemoaned the pace of climbing in the mountains.

The 24-year-old said: "In the high mountains, you have to suffer for so long. Some climbs feel like they just don't end.

"Everybody is riding full gas and I'm too heavy for this, I'm not a climber!

"The pace is higher in the mountains. The first climb yesterday [on stage 16], when it exploded, you can feel the pace get quicker. The level is so high and you push watts that would normally be quite good in any other race, but here everyone can do those numbers. You end up in the gruppetto with some powerful numbers."

British sprinter Ben Swift (UAE-Team Emirates) said that crashes - of which are more common in the Tour - are the thing he hates the most. "The worst are the crashes," he said.

"I think there's more crashes in the Tour because the risks are higher and people are more willing to push to be at the front.

"The first day after you crash, you're always more nervous and covering your brakes a little but more. You have more fatigue and you're not pushing yourself through them gaps. A crash can play on you a little bit."

Ben Swift is looking to make the most of any opportunities that come his way at the Tour de France this summer, as he prepares to return to the race for the first time in six years after moving from Team Sky to UAE Team Emirates.

The 29-year-old Yorkshireman spent seven years racing at Sky but found his chances increasingly limited in the squad the last few seasons, before transferring at the end of last year.

The first and only time Swift raced at the Tour was 2011 when the team was built around Bradley Wiggins’s tilt on the victory, and although he’s raced at the Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia since he’s hoping to enjoy more freedom if he makes it to the start line in Düsseldorf with his new squad.

“The Tour's still on my programme at the moment. Obviously everything has to be finalised but at the moment that’s still the plan,” Swift told Cycling Weekly from Sierra Nevada, Spain where he’s spending two weeks training.

“I think I’ll be able to enjoy it a lot more this time. Last time I was still quite young when I rode the Tour and I was in quite a high-pressured environment, we were going there with ambitions to try and win the Tour with Bradley.

“[I’ll be] able to go there in a completely different frame of mind where I can look in the road book and try and pinpoint stages and stuff like that.”

Watch: Tour de France essential guide

South African Louis Meintjes, who finished eighth overall in the Tour last year, will lead the UAE team’s GC charge, but Swift is hoping to have some freedom on the flatter stages that suit him.

“We don’t have to take any ownership of the race,” Swift continued. “It’s just making sure he’s [Meintjes] OK, we don’t need to ride on the front or anything like that.

“Because I’m not a proven Grand Tour stage winner we can’t go in there saying ‘I want to do this, I want to do that’, I just want to go there, see what we can do, take my opportunities and see what comes up.”

Though Swift said he’s enjoying his time with the new squad, he’s endured a frustrating 2017 so far, with illness hampering one of his key goals Milan-San Remo and an ankle injury ruling him out of Amstel Gold last month. He’s next due to race the Critérium du Dauphiné on June 4, before the British Road Race National Championships on the Isle of Man, and the Tour.

“I’ve integrated with the team well, everything’s gone well in training, everything’s gone right it’s just been that last little bit in the races. The racing’s not quite gone my way,” Swift said.

“My condition’s been good, all the numbers have been there, I’ve had a little bit of a bumpy time with a little bit of sickness and damaging my ankle before Amstel Gold. My main goal was Milan-San Remo; I was sick after Paris-Nice, sick through San Remo, I just kind of fought through that really. It’s been one of those things; it’s not gone right.”

Swift started his career as part of the British Cycling Academy programme, before turning professional with Katusha in 2009. He joined Sky the following year when the squad formed, and teamed back up with many of the British riders he grew up racing with.

After seven years in the Sky setup, Swift admitted it had been “daunting” when he initially made the move to UAE Team Emirates this year.

“It [the team] was different, it was a little bit daunting at the start,” he continued. “Obviously I know everybody from racing but I don’t know them personally. Everyone’s been really good I’ve got on well with them.

“I’ve done most of my time with the same core group – we’ve done a lot of the same races together. I’d definitely say I’m starting to make some friends in the team now, I’m still working on my Italian and stuff like that.”

Swift’s personal life has also undergone a big change this year too, with the arrival of his first-born son in February.

“It’s been really good. Me and my partner have got a good little system now where we both get optimal sleep,” he said.

Ben Swift switched teams from Team Sky to UAE Team Emirates this winter for a chance to lead in his favourite races, including tomorrow's Milan-San Remo. However, he says that he and the team "are not under any illusions" for the victory.

Swift finished third in 2014 and second last year behind Frenchman Arnaud Démare (FDJ). The team, formally Italy's Lampre team, hired him specifically for races like Milan-San Remo and the Tour de France.

"The emphasis is on San Remo, but I can name 20 or 30 guys who have it on their list too," Swift told Cycling Weekly.

"We are not under any illusions. I don't like making a big song and dance, saying, 'That's the one I want to target.' You'll never hear me say, 'That's the one I'm going to win.' I'll never say it. It's so unrealistic. So many people have the same goal."

>>> Ben Swift: 'Leaving Team Sky was a now or never. I have a massive opportunity to perform across the year'

Swift led Team Sky at the race in 2015, but only managed a 13th behind winner John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo). He now describes the race as a "logical target", but also says that anything can happen on the day.

"You only have one shot, and you could puncture, have a bad day. It could down to one little mistake in the final and that's it for another year," Swift continued.

"That aside, you have to have goals and ambitions. For me, I've proved in the past that Milan-San Remo is a race that suits me. It's just a logical race that I can target. Targeting it enables me to have a strong early season."

Following Milan-San Remo, Swift will race the Tour of the Basque Country (April 3-8), and the Amstel Gold Race (April 16).

>>> Mark Cavendish's unique guide to Milan-San Remo

Working in his favour, Swift raced Paris-Nice last week. Five of the last six winners of Milan-San Remo have won the Italian Monument off the back of the French stage race instead of Tirreno-Adriatico.

Tirreno-Adriatico, however, could produce another winner this year as it did with Gerald Ciolek in 2013, with those who raced Paris-Nice having suffered though some bad weather.

"I had a really solid winter with great weather, I didn't miss anything,” Swift said. “I was able to go to the Tour Down Under. My results weren't as strong, but I was actually much better this year than last year. That's due to a better winter and a little bit of intensity, working on my base with the thought that Milan-San Remo is a long race that needs a good solid base."

The race covers 292 kilometres from Italy's business capital to the San Remo casino town. Along the coast, Swift and his rivals must climb the three Capi climbs and the Cipressa and Poggio.

>>> Fernando Gaviria: 'Peter Sagan will try to go on the Poggio'

Given UAE Team Emirates is an Italian team at heart, it holds Milan-San Remo in high regard. General Manager Giuseppe Saronni won the race in 1983.

"The team helped me focus on it, on the surrounding races, giving me the opportunity," Swift added. "They listen to what I wanted and then make decisions. I was able to do that in the past, but sometimes, it was spur of the moment, being pulled off to a race. Now we have a plan and we are sticking to it."

Ben Swift's life changed drastically over the last few months. He left behind seven years in Team Sky to lead UAE Team Emirates and became a father. It all bodes well for Swift as he aims to win Milan-San Remo and to return to the Tour de France.

The baby-faced cyclist from Yorkshire sat back on a couch outside the Viceroy hotel in Abu Dhabi in the midst of the whirlwind to speak with Cycling Weekly.

Ahead of the Abu Dhabi Tour, the team welcomed new mega-sponsor Emirates Airlines. Swift, one of the team's stars and one of two native English speakers, was pulled left and right for local television interviews. The next day, he began supporting Rui Costa to his eventual overall win.

The 2013 world champion Costa won the summit finish stage to Jebel Hafeet and kept the lead in the flat final stage on Abu Dhabi's formula one circuit. It was a dream scenario for the UAE's first professional team to win on home soil after announcing the Emirates deal.

Swift had little time to celebrate. He received a call from his partner after the stage saying she was on her way to the hospital to give birth.

Arthur Swift, just like dad, is fast. He arrived before Swift could travel home. He has his hands full and with a smile emoticon, he wrote a few days later saying he is looking forward to race again in Paris-Nice just so he can have a full night’s sleep.

Times truly have changed for Swift, who at 22-years-old in 2010, left team Katusha to join Sky in their debut year.

"Everyone in the UAE team has been good to me, but it's always going to be different to Sky because I was with my childhood friends there," Swift says.

Swift grew through the British Cycling Academy and raced the track. He had a trainee period with Barloworld in 2007, the year Geraint Thomas was in the team, and turned professional with Katusha at 21 years old.

Talk of a new British WorldTour team proved true and for 2010, Swift left his contract to ride with his home team and childhood friends. He had his chances to sprint and race the Tour de France in 2011, but the focus changed quickly to Grand Tours with impressive helpers and star leaders.

Swift found some space. He placed third in Milan-San Remo in 2014 and second in it in 2016. Opportunities were limited, though. And as he began to climb better, the team needed him more and more to help its classification leaders.

"I was so fatigued, I didn't have the power left [when the stages suited me] or I'd have to work for the leader to protect him. If I have the capability now to be in those 20-30 man groups and not have to ride for someone else, then it opens the doors up," Swift continues.

"Regrets? I don't think so. I had a lot of opportunities, but it started to change. It comes with the territory, that's what Sky was all about, and you know that. I loved it, but when this opportunity came about, it was hard to miss. It was time to go full gas for myself."

Swift recalls the cooling vests, the warm downs and training camps. Some said that going to a race after a training camp was almost a relief given how much effort that they invested in their build up.

"Sky made it much more scientific, much more attention to detail. They were innovators of the sport, everything from cooling down... Everyone looked at diets before, but the way that Sky did it so rigorously, eating this for that training or eating this for that training.

"I don't think other teams ever went into that detail. Now, it's across the board. When we wore our skin suits or aero helmets on the road, they laughed at us, but now others do it too.

"Sky learned as they were starting. When a new rider came to the team, they couldn't believe how intense the training camps were. From what you heard, the other teams just rolled around in camps!

"That definitely got tapered off over the years, in the first couple of years, it was incredible the amount of training. With the innovation that they brought to the sport, they learned that sometimes less is better."

Swift laughed because he didn't know any better at the time. He had come from British Cycling’s Academy where they were training similarly. The same programme included professionals like Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard – Sky team-mates, and childhood friends, left behind.

He began looking with his agent in the summer of 2016 for a new team. Several teams were interested given his placings and WorldTour points, but UAE Team Emirates – or Lampre-Merida as it was then – kept calling back to convince Swift.

The opportunity to lead more, and to select and target specific stages from a Tour de France road book was too much to pass.

"It's looking through the road book and picking the stages for myself. I'm able to plan my race days," adds Swift.

"It was a now or never. I have a massive opportunity to perform across the year."

‘They listen to what I want."

Swift debuted in Sky's black colours in the Tour Down Under in 2010. Greg Henderson took the team's first win in the opening criterium.

He helped in those early wins and then made his mark. In Sky's long list of stage race titles – from the Tour de France to Paris-Nice to the Critérium du Dauphiné – Swift claimed the first one in the 2010 Tour de Picardie. He also took stage victories in the Tour Down Under, the Tour of California, the Tour de Romandie, Poland and País Vasco.

As Swift began to climb better, he helped his Sky team-mates defend their classification leads and limited his chances to only a handful of days.

In Sky, Swift’s one big appointment of the season became Milan-San Remo. He collected points everywhere else in 2016, for example, but his second place on Via Roma behind Arnaud Démare (FDJ) is what 'Swifty' supporters remember most.

The UAE Team Emirates team may seem an unlikely match, but with its Italian structure, after 20-plus years racing as Lampre, it knows races like Milan-San Remo well. That extends to manager Giuseppe Saronni. In addition to the Giro d'Italia and the Worlds in Goodwood, he won on San Remo’s Via Roma in 1983.

"They helped me focus on it and on the surrounding races, giving me the opportunity. They listen to what I want and then make decisions. I was able to do that in the past, but sometimes, it was spur of the moment, being pulled off to a race. Now we have a plan and we are sticking to it," Swift says.

"The emphasis is on San Remo, but I can name 20 or 30 guys who have that on their list too. We are not under any illusions. I don't like making a big song and dance, saying, 'That's the one I want to target.' You'll never hear me say, 'That's the one I'm going to win.'

"That aside, you have to have goals and ambitions. For me, I've proved in the past that Milan-San Remo is a race that suits me. It's just a logical race that I can target. It opens up many other opportunities when I start to build for that race."

Swift is racing in Paris-Nice ahead of Milan-San Remo and continuing to País Vasco and to the Amstel Gold Race. The Amstel Gold Race, with a hard parcours and new flat finish could be one of those opportunities.

He says that he does not want to think too far ahead, but “with 90 per cent certainty” he will race the 2017 Tour de France. It would be the first time in six years, since 2011, for Swift. Even in 2014, he was not there when the Sheffield stage finished eight kilometres from his door step.

UAE Team Emirates has South African star Louis Meintjes, who placed eighth in 2016, to support. Swift explains that it will be much different, though, as the team will not be lined out on the front each day for its leader as Sky would for Chris Froome. It leaves Swift to thumb through the road book and pinpoint days.

"I haven't looked in detail, but I heard that there are many intermediate transitional stages this year. There could be many opportunities."

Opportunities ahead

Swift puts his hand on his knee. It still gives him a few "niggles" occasionally and reminds him how he almost fractured it last year in the Tour de Romandie. Doctors say that will pass in the next year.

He pays more attention to his shoulders and if needed, he visits British Cycling's physiotherapists for help.

"I hope I won't need that any more," he says. "I've done both of my shoulders in twice. It's a little genetic in that my shoulders aren't completely round, but more oval that we've seen on the MRIs. If I crash on the wrong spot at high speeds, my shoulder dislocates straight out the back and does a lot of damage on the way out."

The Barloworld period passed and so did the years in Katusha and Sky. Even though he has been professional for eight years, he is still only 29. "I'm coming into my prime," he adds. He signed a two-year contract with Saronni and UAE to make the most of the period.

"The years are going by fast now, they tick by, and you have to focus on the now, but also with an eye on the next objective," he adds.

"For the next couple of years, I'm going to be targeting those harder stages and those reduced bunch sprints. I may not be as fast as I was when I was younger, as I used to win bunch sprints in the past."

At the 2012 worlds in Melbourne, Swift won the scratch gold medal and with Geraint Thomas, took a Madison silver medal.

"My training changed some without being on the track, but I've substituted that with climbing, looking for opportunities in harder stages," he continues.

"That's the direction that I need to keep pushing and pursuing."

Ben Swift had to leave the Abu Dhabi Tour on Saturday as his partner gave birth to their first child

Swift finished the queen stage of the race to Jebel Hafeet yesterday but was taken to the airport to fly back to his home that evening to attend the birth of his first child, a son.

A spokesperson for UAE Team Emirates said: “After the stage he received a call that said 'I’m going to the hospital because my waters have broken'. The team, of course, said go home this is something much more important than a bike race.

“He flew back home and we are happy for such kind of events.”

He added that Swift is not expected to miss Paris-Nice, which starts on Sunday March 5, or Milan-San Remo on March 18.

Swift himself posted on Instagram: "What a day. A mad rush home from Abu Dhabi to meet my little man. Happy to report mother and baby are doing great."

Swift placed second on the race last year, and it represents his best opportunity to win a Monument.

Ben Swift is confident that he and UAE Abu Dhabi are on course for a Milan-San Remo title tilt despite the distraction of the team’s well-documented sponsorship woes late last year.

The 29-year-old opened his season with the squad, which he has transferred to after a seven-year tenure at Team Sky, at the Tour Down Under on Tuesday, conscious of the number of weeks to the first Monument of 2017 on March 18.

Swift channelled uncertainty into more driven training over the pre-season as his new team management scrambled to find a sponsor to secure its WorldTour licence after a deal with Chinese backers collapsed.

>>> Abu Dhabi backer saves Ben Swift’s TJ Sport/Lampre team

"It was in the back of my head but I was trying not worry about it too much, or as much as you can do,” Swift said of the team’s beleaguered state that was relieved only last month.

"If you ask my close friends and family, maybe it was affecting me a little bit but I was trying just to focus on my training and have confidence in the management to sort it out. I’ve got other people to sort out that, and worry about that, if nothing was happening.

"For me, it was just all about trying to focus. Perhaps that drove me on to have better training because I was just focused on what I was trying to do."

UAE Abu Dhabi is effectively an incarnation of Lampre-Merida and Swift said still has a strong Italian influence that he hopes to learn from, with Sky’s ‘marginal gain’ philosophy less subscribed.

“There’s a lot of history and knowledge inside the team that’s not all about technology and looking for the one percent. It’s about actual racing and that feel for it. A lot of the guys in management have won big races in the past where it’s been about racing and using your head. Hopefully we can take a bit of knowledge from that,” he said.

Swift has left his comfort zone in the transfer, going from racing with teammates he has grown up with to knowing just a sports director he worked with in a one-year stint at Katusha in 2009.

>>> Ben Swift outlines his early season with new team UAE Abu Dhabi

“It is really different,” he said. “You appreciate how difficult it is for foreign riders coming into such a strong bonded team, like Sky, to integrate. I’ve noticed that a little bit because it is such a strong community that they had at Lampre. Luckily, I’ve fitted in really well right at the start. They appreciate that I can’t speak full-on Italian yet but when we’re one-on-one I can communicate and talk to them.

“I’m learning quite a lot each day, which is really good,” he continued. “I wanted that challenge and that new experience of learning another language. I’ve always quite envied people that can speak multiple languages, so it’s quite a good opportunity to do that now.”

UAE Abu Dhabi was active in the opening stage of the Tour Down Under, at a point driving the peloton in the fast finish that sprinter Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) won ahead of Danny van Poppel (Sky) and Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe).

Swift enters the 19th edition he said in good condition and already intently focused on Milan-San Remo, which he has developed an affinity with over three starts, placing third in 2014, 13th in 2015 and second last year to Arnaud Demare (FDJ).

>>> Tour Down Under 2017: Latest news, reports and info

“I’ve worked a lot more on my base so this race should kick start that top end,” he said.

“The Tour Down Under is no longer a race that you can just turn up to and roll around. It’s a hard race. Milan- San Remo is nine weeks on Saturday, I think, so you’ve got to be in at least good form [here].”

Ben Swift will kick off his 2017 season at the Tour Down Under in Australia next week, marking his debut for the UAE Abu Dhabi team after seven years with Team Sky.

British sprinter Swift was one of the original riders in Sky's line-up when they made their racing debut in 2010, but decided to switch squads for 2017 to seek new opportunities.

>>> Ben Swift set to leave Team Sky for Lampre in 2017

After the Tour Down Under, Swift says that he will then take part in the Abu Dhabi Tour, Paris-Nice, Milan-San Remo, Tour of the Basque Country, the Ardennes Classics and the Tour de Romandie, adding he will then take "a little break".

Swift was signed by the UAE Abu Dhabi team - formerly known as Lampre-Merida. He brought with him a solid tally of WorldTour points, largely thanks to his second place in the 2016 edition of Milan-San Remo.

The 29-year-old Rotherham rider's runner-up spot behind Frenchman Arnaud Démare (FDJ) in last year's San Remo marked his second appearance on the Monument's podium, having placed third in 2014.

Swift's move from Sky nearly ended in disaster. He was originally signed by the team under its name of TJ Sport, but the squad hit problems when money from Chinese backers failed to materialise - and the UCI did not name the team among those securing a WorldTour ride for 2017.

However, a last-minute deal with the United Arab Emirates saw the team saved and gave it its new name, and a WorldTour place was confirmed.

Former Sky team-mate Luke Rowe was quick to rib Swift about his Twitter announcement regarding his early-season calendar, saying "Brilliant, thanks Ben" and including a GIF of an audience giving a standing ovation.

Swift will race against former Sky team-mates – including Rowe – in the Tour Down Under which runs from January 17-22. He will have an early chance of grabbing a stage win and valuable WorldTour points.

An Abu Dhabi backer has saved Ben Swift's TJ Sport/Lampre team, say those close to the last-minute deal.

The backer will take over the title sponsorship ahead of the 2017 season instead China's TJ Sport.

The UCI announcement that the team is in the top 2017 WorldTour series should come tomorrow – music to the ears of General Manager Giuseppe Saronni and star cyclists like Ben Swift and Louis Meintjes. The team had until today, December 15, to turn in its documents.

Four or five people with close ties to Saronni's team, this year called Lampre-Merida, confirmed the deal.

The UCI gave Saronni extra time to allow for the deal to happen. When its licence commission named 17 of the 18 possible teams, including Team Sky and Dimension Data with Mark Cavendish, on November 25, it wrote a footnote saying that it was still reviewing TJ Sport's application.

China's first WorldTour team TJ Sport had stalled on the start line. Head of the investment group Li Zhiqiang, reportedly fell sick and some are saying it is cancer of the pancreas.

Zhiqiang and Saronni presented the project in September in China. The backing that Saronni said he had now appears to be non-existent given his quick turn from the Far East to the Middle East.

Saronni already had been speaking to a backer one year ago in the United Arab Emirates. The Abu Dhabi person or company remains nameless.

The backer reportedly wanted a team when news came this summer of a WorldTour team, with Vincenzo Nibali, starting from nearby Middle Eastern island Bahrain.

The Arab line quickly opened again when Saronni’s Chinese promise broke. Now, the Middle East may not only have its first WorldTour team, but two teams in the top tier in 2017.

It remains uncertain if Saronni will license the team in Switzerland, where the management company is headquartered, in the U.A.E., or at home in Italy.

The U.A.E. news is welcomed regardless of where the team is licensed. Around 60 employees risk being dismissed over the Christmas holidays if Saronni had failed to pull the Abu Dhabi rabbit out of his hat.

There's still time...

Swift, who left Team Sky after seven years for a chance to lead in more races, and Louis Meintjes, eighth overall in the Tour de France, could have found new homes.

Other cyclists and staff members may not have been so luckily given the start of the 2017 season is one month away.

"The team funds need to be regulated better," Meintjes's agent Robert Hunter said in the latest issue of Cycling Weekly magazine.

"I'm all for helping them getting the team up and running, but if it is not controlled and riders end up on the street.

“I understand and feel bad for the person who is in the hospital, but if he was the only person who can sign off of the documents in a company then there's something wrong with the company.

“That situation of one person is not ideal.”

Saronni and sponsor liaison Mauro Gianetti have yet to comment. They did not respond when called recently for interviews related to the 2017 team.

Ben Swift's switch to TJ Sport from Team Sky might backfire if a UCI WorldTour licence is refused. The team – which could become China's first top team – cancelled a training camp this month and missed a UCI meeting yesterday in Majorca, Spain.

The team, for almost a quarter of a century known as Lampre and based in Italy, missed out on the first round of WorldTour licences a week and a half ago when all the other 17 teams received theirs. It told Cycling Weekly at the time that it had asked for a delay while it organises its papers for the UCI's licence commission.

Since then, the team cancelled a pre-season training camp that was due to be held in Tuscany and missed a UCI meeting.

>>> Team TJ Sport’s WorldTour licence remains under review

"Surprised? A little bit," 29-year-old Swift from Rotherham told Cycling Weekly recently.

Swift is due to lead the team in races like Milan-San Remo and South African Louis Meintjes, eighth in this year's Tour de France, in the stage races. Other stars include Diego Ulissi, Sacha Modolo and former world champion Rui Costa.

"It was a little bit of a surprise, but it wasn't a concern because there was no panic from the team. I've been speaking with the team quite regularly and they've not mentioned anything. I've been talking about my race programme. I already have my travel plans for Australia. As far as I'm concerned, it just happened to be one of those things."

Things have changed, however. General Manager Giuseppe Saronni planned a pre-season camp in China and then changed it to Tuscany. On Monday night, the staff and team's 24 cyclists received an e-mail cancelling it so that the licence situation could take absolute focus.

TJ Sport's group will stay at home while Sky meets in Mallorca and other teams gather for camps ahead of the 2017, which starts in five weeks, on January 14, with Australia's Tour Down Under.

Perhaps due to the absolute focus, the team skipped the UCI seminar in Mallorca yesterday. It was only one of two WorldTour teams absent. Bora-Hansgrohe, the new German super team with Peter Sagan, reportedly missed it due to weather and flight problems.

Saronni has until December 15 to give the UCI's licence commission the needed documents. With ethical and sporting criteria approved, something could be wrong or missing on the financial or administrative side. Saronni sent sponsor liaison Mauro Gianetti to China last month to expedite the process.

The issue could partly stem from Saronni dealing with a government group instead of a private group. China's sports ministry reportedly created the investment group TJ Sport to promote cycling at home. Li Zhiqiang presides over the group, which according to Saronni in a September interview built up €120 million in 20 days. He said then Alibaba, J-One and Wanda Sport formed part of the group.

Some deny Wanda Sport’s involvement. The group recently launched the Tour of Guangxi, which will be the final event of 38 races on the WorldTour calendar in 2017.

Saronni has yet to identify which company could eventually become the team's name. Or perhaps it will remain TJ Sport similar to long-running team Astana, which is backed by a group of businesses in Kazakhstan.

The vagueness, missed dates and cancelled appointments "worries" some. One rival team manager told Cycling Weekly that agents already approached him about their TJ Sport cyclists in case the deal goes bad. If the commission refuses TJ Sport a WorldTour licence, then the team could apply for a spot in the lower professional division. Or the team could completely crumble like the popular panettone served during the holidays in Italy.

In the worst case scenario, the cyclists and staff – around 60 employees – would be left searching for new teams over the holidays. Only a few of the stars, like Swift and Meintjes would be able to find teams at such short notice.

Theories prevail with limited communication from Beijing or the team’s headquarters near Milan. The commission, which operates behind closed doors in Switzerland, promises sometime in late December to deliver its results. Calls to Saronni and Gianetti for this article went unanswered.

"The dossier is already not easy to follow for teams that have been filing them for many years, but we have the Chinese, and they are new and need a bit more time," a team representative told Cycling Weekly early in the process. "Also, unfortunately, the woman who is preparing the documents in China was sick and in the hospital, so there was some delay."

Representatives now say they prefer to wait until after the commission's work to comment because "it is a very delicate time and the situation is evolving."

Regardless famous manufacturer Ernesto Colnago is working hard in Cambiago to prepare the team's new bicycles. Some like Diego Ulissi have already collected theirs.

>>> ‘I did it for my family’s future’ – Colnago founder explains WorldTour deal with TJ Sports-Lampre

Ten of the 24 cyclists went for their medical tests this week with Doctor Roberto Corsetti so that they can receive their racing licences.

"The work must go on," Sports Director Mario Scirea said.

"I have faith in him [Saronni] in what he's done in these 25 years, though. It's not that he just decided to sign riders and then sit back and do nothing.

"Logically, though, until we have that OK we are all a little worried."

Cycling has seen licence delays before with teams Katusha and Astana. Eventually, they raced into the new season. Other teams, like Pegasus and Sony Ericsson, folded without pinning on a racing number.

UPDATE: Vegni told Cycling Weekly on Thursday afternoon that the issue was not discussed in the seminar and that the organiser is still waiting for a PCC decision. He admitted, time is running out for the 2017 season.

Several new professional cycling stars broke through in the 2016 season, with some more established ones finding new form and motivation to take some big victories.

>>> 100 Best Road Riders of 2016

We've rounded-up 10 names who we think will make an impact during the 2017 race season: some are well established names who are switching to a new team and are looking to make their mark, and others are fresh-faced riders who've been given a chance to shine in the WorldTour.

Alberto Contador

Trek-Segafredo, Spain

The 33-year-old 'Pistolero' appeared ready to retire at one point, but then found new motivation in changing teams for one last try at winning a fourth Tour de France title.

>>> 100 Best Road Riders of 2016: 21-30

"The Tour is the goal, the Tour is the goal," he said, repeating it to underline his intention.

It would be Alberto Contador's comeback after abandoning to crashes in 2016, suffering in 2015 after winning the Giro d'Italia and breaking his tibia in the 2014 edition. Trek-Segafredo could provide the needed stimulus after six years in Tinkoff.

"The objectives will be clearer in the different races," he said. "A good programme so that the team is 100 per cent at the Tour."

John Degenkolb

Trek-Segafredo, Germany

Trek-Segafredo also signed John Degenkolb, from Giant-Alpecin, to lead the classics team. His challenge will be to reach the top again after a British driver wiped out team Giant in an early season training incident.

The German, winner of both Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix in 2015, suffered a fractured forearm, nearly lost his finger and of course, missed the spring classics. He completed the Tour and showed he is back on track with an Arctic Race of Norway stage win, his first victory in 11 months.

"I'm happy it's now behind me," he said. "I was always fighting to make up the disadvantage. I'm looking forward to a regular training schedule again."

Ben Swift

TJ-Lampre, Great Britain

Team Sky sprinter Ben Swift flew the coop after seven years, since the team debuted in 2010, for a chance to spread his wings fully. He is the first and only of the Sky Brits to leave for a better opportunity.

>>> 100 Best Road Riders of 2016: 91-100

TJ-Lampre should allow him plenty of opportunities from the early spring classics to grand tours. "[Team Sky] completely understood," he said. "I was presented with an opportunity I couldn't refuse."

The first goal: Milan-San Remo. Swift wants to turn his second and third place in the Italian classic into wins. Giuseppe Saronni, winner in 1983, may provide the magic touch to do so.

Filippo Ganna

TJ-Lampre, Italy

TJ-Lampre's Filippo Ganna could blossom already in his first professional year given his pedigree. This year at 19-years-old he made his mark with a individual pursuit win in the World Championships and the under-23 Paris-Roubaix victory.

Expect an early win in a short time trial, one like the Tour of Qatar – if TJ-Lampre take part. He would provide direct competition to another Italian, Adriano Malori, over the short distances. And of course, Paris-Roubaix. TJ-Lampre could give Ganna space in some of the smaller classics and perhaps the big one, just to whet his appetite.

Owain Doull

Team Sky, Great Britain

After a team pursuit gold in the Olympics and a trainee period with Sky, Owain Doull makes his official professional debut in 2017 with his home team. Doull, remember, went to see the 2010 team launch as a 16-year-old.

Now, his goal is to learn the professional road racing ways, develop and find his space. Bradley Wiggins says the he reminds him of a young Geraint Thomas because he is fast and can climb. Doull explained, "I'd like to focus on the classics to start with".

Hugh Carthy

Cannondale-Drapac, Great Britain

For 2017, the Englishman takes a jump from Caja Rural-Seguros RGA to team Cannondale-Drapac.

"In my opinion, probably the best young stage-racing talent out of the UK," said Cannondale General Manager Jonathan Vaughters. "I think he's got a big future in three-week races, and we want to help him develop into the best rider he can be."

Carthy raced his first grand tour in the Vuelta this summer. It followed a successful 2016 campaign with the Spanish team Caja Rural team, winning the Vuelta a Asturias and placing ninth in the Volta a Catalunya. He had support, but in Cannondale-Drapac it will be taken to another level.

Robert Power

Orica-BikeExchange, Australia

The Australian won one of the biggest amateur stage races, the 2015 Giro della Valle d'Aosta, but a rare bone marrow disease put his professional debut on hold this year.

Insiders still consider him one of the biggest stage race promises from Australia in a long time. He began with Orica-BikeExchange towards the end of this summer, but 2017 will be the first chance for him to show what he is capable of in the professional ranks.

Adam and Simon Yates, and Esteban Chaves dominate the team's stage race stable, but their experience should rub off on Power. If all goes well, Power could pull off an early one-day win and a top-10 in an HC-ranked stage race.

Miguel Angel Lopez

Astana, Colombia

'Superman' already made his mark with an impressive Tour de Suisse win at 22-years-old this summer. The win confirmed the talent he showed when he won the 2014 Tour de l'Avenir.

>>> 100 Best Road Riders of 2016: 41-50

Astana took him to his first grand tour, the Vuelta a España, but he fell on his face and broke three teeth. He continued, but had to pull the plug after one week. Bad luck continued this off-season when he broke his tibia.

What is clear: he has talent. Astana will support Fabio Aru in Giro d'Italia, but Lopez will go for other stage races and the Tour de France.

Emanuel Buchmann

Bora-Hansgrohe, Germany

The German rode to an amazing 21st overall in the Tour de France with team Bora-Argon 18 this summer. It underlined what the German team had been thinking, that this is one of the country's best stage race talents since Jan Ullrich.

"He's the most talented German GC guy," General Manager Ralph Denk said. "He's young, 24, but one year ago he was the national champion and then the Tour. He has a great future ahead of him. It's my goal to develop him."

Denk promised that when Sagan's not leading the team, others like Buchmann will have their chance.

Rubén Fernández

Movistar, Spain

Movistar put its faith into Rubén Fernández with a new three-year deal this autumn. It had reason to, he won the 2013 Tour de l'Avenir and this year, wore the leader's jersey and was one of Nairo Quintana's strongest climbing domestiques in the Vuelta.

The 25-year-old could be leading on his own soon as he is tapped as Spain's next grand tour star after Contador. This year, he placed sixth in the Tour Down Under, the Tour of Poland and the Vuelta a Burgos.

Movistar said, "He's one of the best climbers and future stars of Spanish cycling." This month, however, he suffered a setback with when he broke his jaw while training.

Britain's Ben Swift, who sprinted to second in this year's Milan-San Remo, will leave Team Sky at the end of the year and join Chinese/Italian team TJ-Lampre.

Sky brass told those close to the team that Swift was leaving, but the 28-year-old has yet to confirm the move to TJ-Lampre. Cycling Weekly learned, however, that the deal is done already.

>>> Alberto Contador confirmed to join Trek-Segafredo for 2017

Swift rode with Sky for the last seven years, since its inception in 2010, and beforehand with Katusha in 2009 and as a trainee with Barloworld in 2008.

Two-time Giro d'Italia winner Giuseppe Saronni runs TJ-Lampre, and the Italian could be the perfect manager to guide Swift to a win in the Italian monument Milan-San Remo having won it himself in 1983. He also won the World Championships in Goodwood in 1982.

“I was third in 2014, 13th last year and second this time,” Swift said following his second place in Milan-San Remo this March behind Arnaud Démare (FDJ). "It shows it’s a race for me. I’ve got a few more years to keep trying.”

Swift would slot into a team that already includes Italians Diego Ulissi and Sacha Modolo.

Lampre-Merida appeared to be stepping down with second sponsor, Taiwanese bike company Merida, going to sponsor a new team from Bahrain. Saronni instead found a sponsor from China to continue the team into its 25th year.

Watch: How to make a Team Sky rider breakfast

The team is due to be licensed in and become the first WorldTour team from China, but keep its Italian roots with Saronni at the helm and Colnago bikes under the cyclists.

Swift's new team will take on a new name of a Chinese company as TJ is the holding company created to support various cycling initiatives.

"The goal is clear: to get the Chinese back on their bikes. Wherever you go there you find a mass of cars. They have to address the problem of pollution, obesity that's on the rise, and dreadful traffic. They are studying a project of 1000 miles of bike lanes," Saronni told La Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview last week.

"The government decides everything there, and in our case the sports ministry. We don't have a deal directly with a sponsor, but with the TJ Sport society, which is specifically created fund to bring in money."

You've seen the Formula 1 cars racing round Silverstone, but have you ever wondered what it would be like to cycle round the iconic circuit?

The Silverstone Time Trial Challenge, which raises money for Operation Smile, is giving amateurs the chance to pit themselves against times set by Team Sky riders, top triathletes and members of the Land Rover BAR America's Cup sailing team over the course of a lap.

You'll be hard pressed to better the times of Sky riders Ben Swift, Philip Deignan and Beñat Intxausti, with Swift topping the leaderboard in a time of 6-56 for the 5.8km lap.

The charity event offers riders the chance to compete in either a one-lap time trial, 10mi or 25mi individual time trial, or a 25mi team time trial around the traffic and pothole-free circuit in Northamptonshire on October 2.

The event is also targeted at families, with a Family Lap available for riders of any age and a leisure ride for riders over the age of eight, ensuring that those who don't want to go hell for leather can also enjoy the day.

>>> Hayley Simmonds smashes her own 10-mile time trial record

"Do some short efforts for the time trial and be ready to enjoy it as you're going to be riding on a traffic free, pot-hole free roads on one of the most famous race tracks in the world," said Swift.

Athletes' single lap times

Triathletes

Richard Stannard: 09:16.3

India Lee: 08:21.0

Jonathan Heasman: 08:29.3

Mel Wilkins: 08:39.1

Hannah Kitchen: 08:32.6

Stuart Hayes: 08.24.4

Emma Pallant: 09:12.7

Mandy Border: 10:45.1

Michelle Dillon: 09:24.1

Land Rover BAR

Bleddyn Mon: 08:50.6

Jon Wood: 09:40.5

Simon Grindley: 09:16.9

Russ Corn: 08:51.1

Team Sky

Philip Deignan: 07:16.4

Ben Swift: 06.56.7

Benat Intxausti: 07:10.9

Team Sky's Ben Swift, Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe will not race Sunday's National Road Race Championships in Stockton-on-Tees.

The trio were all on the startlist for the men's race but a knee injury sustained at the Tour de Romandie to Swift continues to rule him out, meaning his wait for national stripes continues.

Classics specialists Stannard and Rowe - the former won the race in 2012 - will not compete in the 207km race in order to keep fresh for the start of the Tour de France, which starts on Saturday, July 2.

Reigning champion Pete Kennaugh will also not race because of a broken collarbone suffered at May's Tour of California.

It means that Sky, who apart from Mark Cavendish's 2013 win have won every edition of the race since their inception in 2010, will only field Hackney-born Alex Peters and Scotsman Andy Fenn.

>>> British Cycling testing for motorised bikes at National Championships

The flat course in the north-east is suited to sprinters and despite illness forcing his abandonment at the Tour of Slovenia, Cavendish (Dimension Data) is still expected to take to the start.

Scott Thwaites (Bora-Argon 18), Dan McLay (Fortuneo-Vital Concept), Chris Opie (One Pro Cycling) and Chris Lawless (JLT-Condor) are likely to be Cavendish's biggest challengers.

The news of the omission of Sky riders is another blow for organisers after Thursday's time trials were also absent of a number of high-profile personnel: Dani King (Wiggle-High5) and her teammate Amy Roberts didn't take part in the women's time trial, while Team GB track riders Owain Doull and Steven Burke (Team Wiggins) didn't race the men's race as intended, the same as McLay.

>>> Alex Dowsett wins British elite men’s time trial title for a fifth time

In the time trial events, Scott Davies won the men's U23 title for a record third time, Hayley Simmonds defended her women's title and Alex Dowsett (Movistar) won the men's race for the fifth occasion.

Ben Swift (Team Sky) was taken to hospital after the final stage of the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland on Sunday after being caught up in a crash.

The mass crash occurred inside the final kilometre of the stage from Ollon to Genève, which brought down a number of riders hoping to contest the bunch sprint, including Swift.

Photos courtesy of Cosmo Kedros / @CosmoKedros

Despite re-mounting his bike and finishing the stage, the 28-year-old from Rotherham discovered he had injured his knee and ribs, and was taken to hospital for medical checks to assess the damage.

>>> Ben Swift hits WorldTour top 10 after Milan-San Remo ride

"All in all pretty crap week for myself," Swift said on Twitter after the stage. "Took a kicking all week and then crashed heavy in the final. In hospital for checks now."

Swift later reported that he hadn't suffer any fractures and hoped to make the start of the Tour of California in mid-May.

Earlier in the stage, Sky's Chris Froome - winner of the previous day's stage - made a rare appearance in an escape group as part of a 10-man group.

As the catch looked imminent, Froome had dropped back to the bunch to assist in leading out Swift for the sprint before the crash took place.

Watch: Inside Team Sky's training camp

Swiss rider Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge) took the sprint victory, with Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) sealing the overall win.

Earlier this year, Swift finished second in Milan-San Remo and took the points classification at the Vuelta a Andalucía.

Ben Swift (Sky) has moved up to eighth place in the latest UCI WorldTour ranking, published after the Yorkshireman placed second in Milan-San Remo on Saturday.

Swift was beaten to the line in Milan-San Remo by Frenchman Arnaud Démare (FDJ), who also moves significantly up the ranking to fifth place.

Swift joins Sky team-mate and fellow British rider Geraint Thomas in the top 10. Paris-Nice winner Thomas is in sixth.

>>> Ben Swift on Milan-San Remo: ‘Second is the worst place’

Australian Richie Porte (BMC) maintains his top place in the ranking after coming second in the opening race of the 2016 WorldTour, the Tour Down Under, and third in Paris-Nice.

Porte holds a slender three-point lead over BMC team-mate Greg Van Avermaet, who won Tirreno-Adriatico. Sky's Sergio Henao is third.

With three riders in the top 10 (Swift, Thomas and Henao), Sky moves back up to lead the WorldTour team ranking, shifting American squad BMC down to second. Tinkoff are third. Lowest-placed of the 18 WorldTour squads is currently LottoNL-Jumbo with just one point.

Australia remains the top nation in the WorldTour, with Belgium moving up to second place and Great Britain in third. Spain slips from second to fourth.

WorldTour points are awarded for one-day race, tour stage and stage race overall finishing positions for counting events.

The amount of points awarded depends on the ranking of the event. For example, winning the Tour de France overall gives a rider twice as many points as winning the Eneco Tour overall.

Next event in the 2016 WorldTour is the Volta a Catalunya, starting on Monday March 21 and running until Sunday, March 27.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) topped the 2015 ranking.

UCI WorldTour Ranking 2016 (as at Saturday, March 19)

1. Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing 159 points

2. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing 156 points

3. Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky 115 points

4. Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 112 points

5. Arnaud Démare (Fra) FDJ 107 points

6. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 104 points

7. Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff 89 points

8. Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky 88 points

9. Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff 86 points

10. Jurgen Roelandts (Lux) Lotto-Soudal

Other

22. Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge 31 points

36. Steve Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 6 points

Team ranking

1. Team Sky (Great Britain) 333 points

2. BMC Racing (USA) 322 points

3. Tinkoff (Russia) 249 points

Nation ranking

1. Australia 386 points

2. Belgium 237 points

3. Great Britain 231 points

In the Milan-San Remo chaos today, a shot of black emerged under the Italian Sun in the form Sky's Ben Swift. His last-minute charge was enough to overtake many along Via Roma, but not Frenchman Arnaud Démare (FDJ). After third in 2014, he placed second.

In the sun-soaked Ligurian seaside town, Swift followed up his team's work and avoided the crash of Fernando Gaviria (Etixx–QuickStep) to record his highest ever place in a monument.

"I was third in 2014, 13th last year and second year," Swift said. "Obviously to get second is one of the worst places to get because you're so close to victory. But I'm kind of happy. I'm second to Arnaud Démare who's a brilliant sprinter. I think this shows that it's a race for me, with the results I've had in this race so hopefully I've got a few more years to keep trying."

The 28-year-old from England has raced Milan-San Remo three times already.

>>> Arnaud Démare wins Milan-San Remo, Ben Swift second

"I have to say Milan-San Remo, it's where I've had my best results and best suited to my characteristics," continued Swift.

"It's a good race. Obviously, it's always disappointing not to get the win but I think in the end after 300 kilometres we've got to be happy with how the race went. There's not much more I could have done there."

Sky covered every angle but lacked a bit of extra punch when a crash took out Geraint Thomas and Pete Kennaugh. Kennaugh returned, but Thomas took more time to re-start his race.

Ian Stannard followed an attack with Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) and the two rode alone from the Cipressa to the Poggio. Former World Champion Michal Kwiatkowski attacked near the top of the Poggio and escaped solo until an express train led by Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) passed him in the final two kilometres.

"We knew that we didn't have the favourites for the race so we wanted to make it an aggressive race. Geraint Thomas crashed out so that cost us a lot of firepower and unfortunately Pete Kennaugh crashed as well, so it wasn't as aggressive as we would have liked it to have been but we were aggressive where we needed to be," Swift added.

>>> Five talking points from Milan-San Remo

"We had a super-strong team. Michal Kwiatkowski did a brilliant job there in the final, he put a lot of pressure on the guys to chase. I just tried to stay as relaxed as possible coming into that finish. Yeah, it is what it is."

In 2014, Swift placed third behind winner Alexander Kristoff and Fabian Cancellara

"I think it's a harder feeling really than in 2014. At the moment, I kind of feel… not flat, but not overjoyed, because second place is perhaps one of the worst places you can finish. But I'm happy to be back on the podium," Swift added.

"Everything was perfect. I stayed as hidden as possible, I didn't do anything. I think the only time you'd have seen me was in the last 200 metres, which was what I wanted. I played it really calm in the finish. Last year I was really nervous and I wasted a lot of energy and I paid for that."

British sprinter Ben Swift has said that he is going to give it everything at this year's Milan-San Remo, taking place in Italy on Saturday (March 19).

The Yorkshireman holds Team Sky's record for its best placing in the race, having finished third in 2014. The 28-year-old is part of a strong Sky line-up that includes Paris-Nice winner Geraint Thomas, Italian sprinter Elia Viviani and classics specialists Luke Rowe and Ian Stannard.

Having just ridden Paris-Nice in France last week, where he placed second on stage one, Swift is hoping to carry his good form through to Milan-San Remo.

"I'm full gas for it," said Swift. "We're going there with a really strong team and we'll have a lot of options in the race."

Swift once again underlined why Milan-San Remo suits him more than some of the other race son the calendar: "It's got all the characteristics that suit me really. A couple of hard climbs at the end mean it generally ends in a reduced-bunch sprint. I know they took the Le Manie climb out last year, but it's still a hard race."

Although Swift is hoping for decent weather after two years of cold conditions, he says that his riding in Yorkshire has stood him in good stead for what he might face in Italy.

"I've had some of my best results in conditions like that. Maybe it's because I'm from the north of England where we don't get too many nice days! It's also to do with mentality. You're only going to get cold for a certain amount of time and then you can have a nice long shower."

After Milan-San Remo, Swift will be aiming to ride in the Tour de Yorkshire (April 29 to May 1), parts of which run very close to his home. Last year, Swift was forced to abandon the race on stage one after crashing.

"I'm taking a break right before it so hopefully I'll be able to maintain my form. The race goes really close to where I grew up this year and it's a really great event. It was so good to see how successful it was last year and I'll be there to give it my best shot."

Oscar Gatto (Tinkoff) took the win on stage three of the Ruta del Sol, but Ben Swift's second podium finish in as many days was enough to see the Team Sky man move into the overall lead.

Gatto took the win quite easily, outsprinting Swift and Raymond Kreder (Roompot-Oranje Peloton) in Padul in a race where the breakaway almost took the win.

Breakaway rider Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) was caught by the winner of the 2015 Vuelta a España mountains classification, Omar Fraille (Dimension Data) in the final 15km

Together the pair made it to the final two kilometres before being swallowed up by the bunch, which had been reduced to around 50 thanks to the climbs that littered the third stage.

As the group took the final corner, Team Sky came out near the front with Vasil Kiryienka working for Swift, but Gatto and Tinkoff had the beating of everyone, with the Italian cruising to his first victory since joining the Russian team at the start of the season.

Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista del Sol stage three, Monachil - Padul (157.9km)

1. Oscar Gatto (Ita) Tinkoffm 3-53-17

2. Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky, st

3. Raymond Kreder (Ned) Roompot-Oranje Peloton, st

4. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, st

5. Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, st

6. Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC, st

7. Simon Geschke (Ger) Giant-Alpecin, st

8. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC, st

9. Reto Hollenstein (Swi) IAM Cycling, st

10. Mateo Busato (Ita) Southeast-Venezuala, st

Overall standings after stage three

1. Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky

2. Raymond Kreder (Ned) Roompot-Oranje Peloton

3. Reto Hollenstein (Swi) IAM Cycling

4. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC

5. Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo

Ben Swift is keeping an open mind this year as his ambitions and Team Sky’s GC objectives move further apart.

The 28-year-old kicked off his 2016 season at the Tour Down Under with an eye on stage success, but his best finish was second behind Simon Gerrans on stage four.

Swift — one of only five riders to have ridden for Sky since the team’s debut 2010 campaign — says he is “happy at the minute” with the team, but that he has observed a divergence in direction.

“In Sky we don’t really have that [lead-out train] anymore. The first couple of years we were all about that, but, quite rightly so, the team has become so dominant in stage racing that that’s very much second now,” Swift said.

No more Sky train

Sky does foster sprinters in Swift, Giro d’Italia stage winner Elia Viviani and new signing Danny Van Poppel, but has become the stage race team of reference with three Tour de France victories among others in recent years. Where that leaves Swift beyond 2016 remains to be seen.

“I’m on my second year and there was an option with a third,” he said of his existing contract. “I need to speak with the team and see where we are at with that and what my options are.”

Nonethless, the team granted the versatile sprinter permission to stay at his South Africa winter base instead of travelling to the normally compulsory December team training camp in Majorca.

“I’ve been there [South Africa] for four years now so I know I can train pretty well there, instead of adding more travel days,” he said. “It’s perfect for what I need — six-seven kilometre climbs, it’s windy, bit of flat, good bit of sun, which you don’t get in Yorkshire or the Isle of Man

in November.”

Swift has identified the Tour de Yorkshire as an early-season objective after crashing out of the opening stage and injuring his shoulder last year.

“Generally, I just want to be consistent, have a good start and get some confidence back.

“Milan-San Remo will definitely be back on the cards again but the cobbled Classics not so much. For me, it’s going back to the weeklong stage races that are lumpy,” he added.

“I enjoy the big bunch sprints but they’re not really my forte. It’s much better when there are 30-40 guys left.”

The Abu Dhabi Tour closed on the F1 Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday after four stages, and the feeling is one of celebration.

Despite the heat wave that affected racing, those that made the trip to the Middle East at the end of the 2015 season felt it was worth their time and that they were apart of something much larger for cycling.

"The race is important, the organisation was perfect," Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) told Cycling Weekly, stood in the shade to escape the 40°C heat at the start of stage three.

"The only thing was that it was too hot. The rest, though, all was good. This race replaces the Tour of Beijing and helps cycling, given there are always fewer and fewer races."

The first stage crawled through the Empty Quarter sand dunes. Riders could hardly push ahead in to the wave of heat that hit the UAE. Because of the conditions, and that the riders were behind schedule, organiser RCS Sport cut the finishing 14.5-kilometre circuit.

Riders continued to complain about the heat, but not so loudly because they accepted that the Abu Dhabi Tour is adding race days, money and promise to an often-hungry sport.

Over the last 10 years, cycling-strong nations have been crippled. Italy, home of RCS Sport, lost several of its top teams and top races. New nations, like Australia with its Tour Down Under, stepped up.

Tour de France organiser ASO expanded from its heartland to run the Tour of Qatar and the Tour of Oman. RCS Sport became a player in the Middle East, too, starting with the Dubai Tour in 2014 and this week in neighbouring emirate, the Abu Dhabi Tour.

"Cycling transmits images of the country, so for the UAE, they are happy to have the race and proud to show the country off," Lorenzo Giorgetti, CEO of RCS Sports and Events, explained.

"And they are huge sports fans. When you go to their homes, the TV is always on with a game. Everyone has a football squad that they cheer on in Spain, Italy or Great Britain."

The Abu Dhabi Sports Council owns the races. It contracted with RCS Sport, organiser of the Giro d'Italia, to run their stage races for 10 years.

The council wanted the Abu Dhabi Tour to sit at the end year so they could also host a UCI gala, welcoming stars like Sky's Chris Froome, and so that it could take the spot of the Tour of Beijing.

By 2017, with the new calendar, Giorgetti would like to see his 2.1-ranked race in the WorldTour, and the cyclists would be happy for the race to succeed.

"I actually asked to come here," Sky's Ben Swift said. "It's nice to get a bit of sun on your back even if it is quite intense. In England this time of year, it starts to get quite grim."

Colombian Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), who won the queen stage on Saturday to position himself to win the overall, was certainly happy to come to Abu Dhabi.

"It's important because the cycling is starting to be more global, not just in one continent like in the past," Chaves said.

"The team asked me in January, and I said I wanted to go. Would I come again? For sure!"

The success of British cycling, including Lizzie Armitstead's recent World Championship win, inspires Sky's Ben Swift to push for more.

Swift, who placed 22nd in the Worlds in Richmond, Virginia, is already pushing ahead towards 2016 with the Milan-San Remo and Doha World Championships in his sights.

"The way that British cycling is going is inspiring, the way that Lizzie Armitstead won the championships was incredible, the atmosphere in the hotel after that was amazing," Swift told Cycling Weekly on Friday ahead of the Abu Dhabi Tour stage two.

"People like Pete Kennaugh, Ian Stannard, Geraint Thomas, my close friends I've grown up with. Luke Rowe who was eighth in Roubaix... We all feed off of each other.

“When we were growing up, cycling wasn't a big sport in Britain, and now it is and we are coming up and we are the figure heads, we thrive off of each other. You want to be better and better. You always want to try to improve and step up."

Watch: Show us your scars #4 - Luke Rowe

Swift stood in Team Sky's paddock at the Formula One Yas Marina Circuit. He put his hand up to race the Abu Dhabi Tour because he wanted to continue racing after the World Championships and understand the heat in the Middle East ahead next year’s championships in Doha.

"The season definitely did not go as I expected. I was hoping for more,” added Swift.

“My big target was Milan-San Remo, but I just lacked a little something there. I was going really well the following week after San Remo. It was real up and down."

He placed 13th in San Remo in March, but in the Tour of Yorkshire, his home race, and had to abandon.

"I was a leader of the race on my home roads. It was a great experience to be racing on home roads, even in the middle of nowhere, people shouting your name, but then to be in an ambulance, knowing it was a bad injury, it was quite disheartening."

Armitstead’s victory and wins like Thomas's in the E3 Harelbeke earlier in the season help 27-year-old Swift look ahead for successes of his own.

"You have to remain positive, you have to look to the future. I'm one for planning and trying to make the most out of situations,” he said.

“I'm already thinking about next year in a certain way, getting these racing kilometres is good, then a break and build up for next year."

Ben Swift (Team Sky) returns to action at the RideLondon-Surrey Classic road race on Sunday (August 2), after recovering from surgery on a shoulder injury sustained in the Tour de Yorkshire in May.

Swift headlines Sky's line-up for the one-day race alongside Bernhard Eisel, Andy Fenn, Chris Sutton, Elia Viviani and Sky debutant Alex Peters.

"I’m feeling fully fit now, with no pain or discomfort at all. My rehab has gone really well so we’ll just have to see what happens," Swift said via the team's website.

"With the course, the weather, and the mix of teams who have entered, it promises to be a really aggressive race, and that always makes it very hard to read tactically.

"Being consistently near the front in those types of situations is vital, and having only six riders per team also adds an extra dimension of unpredictability."

>>> RideLondon-Surrey Classic 2015 preview

Giro d'Italia stage winner Viviani is another option for Sky in a sprint finish, with seasoned Classics riders Eisel and Fenn providing firepower in the 200-kilometre race's hilly mid-section.

Twenty-seven-year-old Rotherham man Swift was runner-up in the rain-soaked 2014 edition of the RideLondon-Surrey Classic behind Adam Blythe, then of the British NFTO team. Now signed to Australian WorldTour outfit Orica-GreenEdge, Blythe will return to defend his win.

Tour de France stage winners Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) and André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) are also on the provisional start list, although there is still a question mark over Cavendish's fitness after he suffered from illness in the Tour's final week.

>>> Wiggins: RideLondon is reminder of everything that’s great about cycling

Sky announced on Wednesday that Peters was joining the team as a stagiaire for the remainder of the season. In addition to RideLondon, Peters will join Swift at the following Tour of Denmark.

Sky also announced rosters for the forthcoming Clásica San Sebastián (August 1), Tour of Poland (August 2-8) and Tour of Denmark (August 4-8).

Team Sky squads for early August races

Clásica San Sebastián

Nathan Earle, Sebastián Henao, Peter Kennaugh, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Danny Pate, Nicolas Roche, Kanstantsin Siutsou, Chris Sutton

RideLondon-Surrey Classic

Bernhard Eisel, Andrew Fenn, Alex Peters, Chris Sutton, Ben Swift, Elia Viviani

Tour of Poland

Ian Boswell, Philip Deignan, Sergio Henao, Vasil Kiryienka, David López, Mikel Nieve, Xabier Zandio, Salvatore Puccio

Tour of Denmark

Nathan Earle, Sebastián Henao, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Alex Peters, Kanstantsin Siutsou, Chris Sutton, Ben Swift

Video: Secrets of the toolbox - Team Sky

Ben Swift is relishing racing on his home roads at this weekend's Tour de Yorkshire, with some of the world's best riders set to descend on his home county.

Team Sky's Swift is the bookmakers' favourite to win the three-day race, which starts on Friday, with the route's undulations suiting his strengths.

But with the likes of Sir Bradley Wiggins, Marcel Kittel and Greg van Avermaet all competing, Swift will have his work cut out to take the race's blue and yellow leader's jersey.

“I am really excited that the Tour de Yorkshire is coming now, after the Grand Depart that we had last year, the atmosphere you all saw was unbelievable,” the 27-year-old said.

“Now to have a race that I can call my home race, it’s not very often we get to do that, especially being a British rider – cycling is becoming massive now.

“There’s definitely a high class field, there are some big names coming – Bradley Wiggins is on the start line, and Marcel Kittel. I think that this race already feels like it’s a big race and it’s coming in at a higher level, and people are taking it seriously.”

In April, organisers revealed the four podium jerseys on offer at this year's tour, with a green sprinter's jersey (sponsored by Yorkshire Bank) and the P&O Ferries mountains jersey up for grabs.

Fans will also have the chance to vote for who wears the Dimension Data Digital jersey on Twitter, with voting open between the last 40km and last 10km.

Yorkshire Bank has agreed a three-year sponsorship of the sprinter’s jersey at the Tour de Yorkshire. The event builds on the legacy of the Tour de France and follows the ground-breaking Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries initiative. This partnership signifies the bank’s commitment to increasing the access to cycling across the county - visit www.ybonline.co.uk

Ben Swift (Sky) took the win on stage two of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in Italy on Friday, and with it the overall race lead.

Swift attacked from a three-man escape to take his first victory of the season. The British rider's former escape companions Matija Kvasina (Felbermayr) and Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani CSF) came home for second and third.

Swift took the leader's jersey from Davide Rebellin (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), and now leads Kvasina overall by 41 seconds, with Bongiorno in third at 54 seconds.

Swift's win came on the same day that British Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas won E3 Harelbeke, after Thomas also made the winning move from a three-man escape. Sky's Porte also took the overall lead in the Volta a Catalunya in Spain.

Two stages of the UCI 2.1-ranked Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali remain, finishing in Pavullo on Sunday, March 29.

Swift's Sky team-mate Peter Kennaugh won the race in 2014.

Ben Swift (Team Sky) was left frustrated by a mistimed sprint as he finished 13th at the end of a thrilling edition of Milan-San Remo, won by John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin).

The Yorkshireman, who finished third last year, was amongst the bunch of 26 riders that made it to the Via Roma together after 293km of riding, however couldn’t navigate his way to the front as the German pipped last year’s winner Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge).

“I chose the wrong side to go up, I had to start my sprint quite early and then I just got blocked, which was quite frustrating after what the day was and all the effort I put in,” Swift told Cycling Weekly after the race.

“The legs were fine, I just chose the wrong side.”

Mechanical scuppers Mark Cavendish's Milan-San Remo chances

Team Sky had earlier set the race alight when Swift, Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe chipped off the peloton on the descent of the Capo Berta when Salvatore Puccio crashed behind them on the moist roads with around 40km to race.

The trio pressed ahead but were caught on the climb of the Cipressa. Thomas later latched onto a move by BMC’s Daniel Oss but was reeled in near the summit of the final climb, the Poggio, with 5km to go.

“It wasn’t planned [the attack], there were issues in the peloton and that’s just how it happened,” Swift explained.

“It’s a difficult situation to know how to manage that stuff, do you commit full on, do you wait, do you hold back?

“It was definitely better to ride a little bit, not fully press on but just maintain it going into the Cipressa, there was no point in sitting up and waiting.”

Swift added that he was disappointed not to earn a better result after such strong riding throughout the day.

“It was a great showing, I think the team rode fantastically, but it would have been nicer to get a result,” he said.

“I’ll still chip away at it, and hopefully I’ve got a few more years left!”

Fresh from racing the sunny Dubai Tour, Ben Swift arrived under grey skies and in temperatures not much above freezing to ride some of the route of the London Cycle Sportive.

The chosen loop took in the iconic hairpin bends of Box Hill, made famous by the London 2012 Olympics. Swift gave advice to the group on climbing and descending, before overseeing a race to the top.

Once the riding was done, Swift sat down for a chat with Cycling Weekly to lay out his plans for the coming season, and longer term ambitions such as the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Following third place in the 2014 Milan-San Remo, Swift made it clear that the 2015 edition is his big early season goal.

"It’s the one thing I’ve been thinking about all winter. On paper it was always a race that suited my style of racing and then to go there and get that result last year gave me the confidence to set it as a target," said Swift.

The course of this year's route has been changed with the finish returning to the famous Via Roma, where Eddy Merckx took all seven of his victories. This change shortens the parcours by one kilometre, and moves the finish line two kilometres closer to the descent of the Poggio, changes that could be decisive when the selection is made on the final climb.

Swift has been preparing for the season's first monument, and feels it's been going well.

"I think the biggest difference is I’ve had no setbacks this winter, I’ve had no injuries. I had a solid year last year where I got a full race season in," he said.

This foundation has set up a strong start to the new season, with Swift winning an intermediate sprint and getting in the mix on stage finishes at the Dubai Tour.

Away from Milan-San Remo, Swift will not be racing any of the cobbled classics this year, but may head that way over the coming seasons.

"I would like to step back into the classics group a little bit. Obviously the races that suit me [are] around that time," said Swift.

This May sees the inaugural edition of the Tour de Yorkshire, a race Swift will be planning to ride to make up for the disappointment of missing out on selection for 2014's Tour de France, which started in the county.

He'll be starting his home event with ambitions of racing and performing well, "[I'll] definitely to try and win a stage first and foremost," he said.

"There’s no time trial, there’s going to be select groups hitting the finish line so it could be a good race to try to perform in overall. It’s a home race so I’ll have good motivation."

After being edged out by teammate Peter Kennaugh in the 2014 British National Road Race, Swift will be returning to what he calls a 'special race' to go for victory. It's also a chance for riders to have a tilt at the victory, free from team orders.

"You get to wear that jersey for a year, and it’s a race that we actually get to race in a completely different way than we normally race," Swift added.

"It’s good just to attack your teammates. I enjoyed that last year with me and Pete going at each other a little. But this year it’s going to be pretty tough; it’s got an uphill cobbles finish on Michaelgate, so it’ll be a good race."

Looking further ahead, Swift has previously talked about his ambitions to get back on the track in time to compete in the Omnium at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. He's clear, however, that this is far easier said than done.

"It all depends on how it goes really, with like the team pursuit and stuff," he said. "I’ve gone down the road of trying to do the team pursuit but, I haven’t really got any ambitions to be in that team pursuit [squad], and whether that then has a impact on how you get selected for the omnium."

Asked his opinion on the idea that the official approach to track cycling might be killing it off, which is a concern Mark Cavendish has voiced, Swift agreed: "At the moment trying to qualify for the omnium with the points and stuff it’s just so hard to do the races that you need to do. They’ve made doing the track so hard, it’s just making it very selective of who can ride it and stuff like that. It just puts a different perspective on it."

Ben Swift is an ambassador for the London Cycle Sportive taking place on May 10. The ride uniquely ends with a lap of Herne Hill Velodrome. There's more information at humanrace.co.uk/cycling 

Ben Swift admits the prospect of riding in the Tour de Yorkshire will somewhat make up for missing out on a ride at the Tour de France in his home county.

The Rotherham native was left out of Team Sky’s squad for the three week race last July, which generated millions of pounds for the surrounding area.

The 27-year-old, who finished third in the 2014 Milan-San Remo, believes the new three-day race will be another success with the British public.

Swift told the Sheffield Telegraph: “It was disappointing not to make the cut for the Tour de France especially as it was going through roads I trained and grew up on.

“I had mixed feelings watching the Tour de France on TV - I was tired after a long season so it was nice to sit at home, but it was also hard to watch in the knowledge that I was missing out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“All this makes up for that a bit. It is a follow-on from how successful cycling has become in Britain and with the level it is coming in at it is just going to be a hit straight away.”

The Tour de Yorkshire departs Bridlington on May 1, with stage finishes in Scarborough, York and Leeds.

Ben Swift has signed a new contract with Team Sky, extending for a further two years until the end of the 2016 season.

Swift has enjoyed a strong season in 2014 after recovering from niggling shoulder injury, claiming stage wins in the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali and the Tour of the Basque Country. But perhaps his stand-out ride of the year was his third place in Milan-San Remo, where he showed that he has far more potential than as a bunch sprinter in his first outing in the prestigious race.

“I’ve been with Team Sky since the start and five years on it really does feel like home to me. To keep that relationship going was really important so I’m delighted to be staying for another two years," Swift said via a team statement. "I already have one eye on next season and with this team I know I can deliver some good results."

The 26-year-old from Yorkshire is already planning his next season. “Next year I’m really looking forward to getting a solid winter behind me with no injuries, which unfortunately is something I lacked this year. I’m really focussed on getting a good block of training in place which will give me the platform to get good results in 2015," he said.

Swift was the first rider to deliver a stage race win for Sky at the Tour of Picardie when the British WorldTour team made its debut in the 2010 season. Since then he has ridden in five Grand Tours for the squad and notched up 11 victories.

Ben Swift's amazing Tour of Britain crash avoidance (video)

Team Sky rider makes the perfect dismount to avoid falling at the Tour of Britain

Ben Swift: Rider Profile

Ben Swift - rider profile, biog, cycling results, photos

We still can't quite believe how Sky's Ben Swift did not come down in this Tour of Britain - but his mightily quick reactions are probably one reason.

Swift's Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas posted this fan-shot video, taken from the roadside during stage six from Bath to Hemel Hempstead, onto his Facebook last night.

Watch out for a Bardiani-CSF rider, who sits in eighth wheel in the peloton, who causes the crash and forces Swift to take evasive action.

Post by Geraint Thomas.

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Ben Swift has five more chances to win his first grand tour stage in the Giro d'Italia. Today, he will help lead team Sky as the race sprints to Salsomaggiore Terme near Parma.

"I nearly won and finished second to Marcel Kittel, that was good but frustrating at the same time," Swift told Cycling Weekly. "I aimed to try in some of the flat sprints to start off and go for the lumpier stages later, so there are plenty of chances left.”

The Giro's peloton will race 173 kilometres today from Modena to Salsomaggiore Terme, an area that earthquakes two years ago wrecked. The stage is flat without one categorised climb to stop the sprinters.

Kittel ruled the first two road stages, winning in Belfast and Dublin. However, the German abandoned with a fever once the race returned to its homeland.

His departure has levelled the playing field. So far, Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr) appears the strongest with two stage wins. The first one he took in Bari came when Swift crashed on the wet roads. Swift also crashed, again on a wet road, with a group of 60 riders two days later at the foot of the Montecassino climb.

"I just hurt my hip when I slid into the curve. I cut my right side, and slid into it with my left side," Swift said. "It took a couple of days to get over it. It was a bit of a shame because the next day was a sprint day."

Only his hand bothers him now. Swift explained that it bothers him sometimes when he puts pressure on it while holding the handlebars.

Besides today's stage, Swift should have other chances: tomorrow's 11th stage to Savona, stage 13 to Rivarolo Carnavese, stage 17 to Vittorio Veneto and the final day, stage 21 to Trieste.

If he won, it would be his first Grand Tour stage win and successfully mark his comeback to grand tours. Last year, he suffered with injuries, including a broken shoulder. His last grand tour was the 2012 Vuelta a España.

"Being in a grand tour gives me a lot of strength and sets me up for the rest of the season, as well. I hope that after this I'll continue well to the nationals."

Ben Swift pipped by Giant German Marcel Kittel in fast Giro d'Italia sprint

Ben Swift and Team Sky will keep trying for a stage win in Giro

Sky will 'keep trying and catch Kittel off guard' in fight for Giro d'Italia stage wins

Diego Ulissi put in an impressive turn of speed to win stage five of the Giro d'Italia at the top of a 7.5km climb to Viggiano today. The Lampre-Merida rider rode several bike lengths clear as the likes of Cadel Evans and Joaquim Rodriguez faded at the end of the five hour stage.

Despite the stretched out nature of the field as they crossed the line everyone in the group was given the same time, just one second behind Ulissi, as Australian Michael Matthews put in a great ride to defend his pink jersey.

It had looked like Katusha were set to sew up the stage as the Russian rockets hit the front on mass the second and final time up the four per cent climb. Daniel Moreno then put in a huge turn within the final kilometre that pulled him clear along wih his leader Rodriguez, Julien Arredondo (Trek Factory Racing) and Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen.

The quartet quickly had a ten bike length advantage, but as soon as Moreno pulled off the others faded badly and the group behind, lead by Matthews, were soon back on their wheels. Rodriguez was then stuck on the front, already fully committed, when Ulissi started his sprint.

The Spaniard had nothing left when he needed to respond, and even Evans, who made his move at the same time, couldn't match the speed of Ulissi who pulled clear all the way to the finish line.  A win visually more impressive than the final time gaps suggest.

"It was an important win," said Ulissi after the finish. "To win a Giro d'Italia stage for an Italian is important, I took on champions. It was a hard finish, a nervous stage, with strong wind and rain in the final.

"I was behind at 20km and I had to put my feet on the ground [with 17km to go]," Ulissi said of the difficult final section of the stage. "My team-mates did well and took me to the front. I was on the fifth wheel, and I waited due to the head wind. Quintana could not maintain the wheel, left a gap, and I followed Matthews who closed it and sprinted."

Matthews has reached his target of being in the race lead until stage six. "My goal was up until tomorrow," he said. "We will see. My form seems to be good, I'll have to assess it tomorrow. The next few stages will be key for the team to keep the pink jersey. We've had a good run so far, we'll try to keep the ball rolling."

Better day for Swift

Sky's Ben Swift kept himself in contention in the points classification after taking today's intermediate sprint and the 10 points that go with it. Having crashed in the rain yesterday and therefore denied the opportunity of challenging for the sprint, Swift made the break today along with Elia Viviani and Tyler Farrar.

All three knew the finish, and therefore the points, would be out of their reach being at the top of a 7.5km drag, and so targeted the intermediate points. Swift won the sprint ahead of Viviani and Farrar to keep himself within reach of the lead. Viviani (Cannondale) leads the red jersey competition from Nacer Bouhanni (Fdj.com) by four points.

Results
Giro d'Italia 2014, stage 5: Tarranto  - Viggiano 203km

1. Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 5-12-39hrs

2. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing at 1 sec

3. Julien Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing at 1 sec

4. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Omega Pharma-QuickStep at 1 sec

5. Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo at 1 sec

6. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge at 1 sec

7. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha at 1 sec

8. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Belkin at 1 sec

9. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r La Mondiale at 1 sec

10. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 1 sec

Overall classification after stage five

1. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge

2. Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge at 14 secs

3. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing at 15 secs

4. Rigoberto Uran (Col) Omega Pharma-QuickStep at 19 secs

5. Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo at 26 secs

6. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team Sky at 35 secs

7. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo at 37 secs

8. Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana at 41 secs

9. Dario Cataldo (Ita) Team Sky at 49 secs

10. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana at 52 secs