Rotherham sprinter Swift is left with mixed feelings on Le Tour

Ben Swift will leave his second Tour de France with mixed feelings after injury and illness hampered his chances of contending for a stage win.
Ben SwiftBen Swift
Ben Swift

Swift had waited since 2011 to get a second chance in cycling’s biggest race, but when it did finally arrive luck was not on his side.

The Yorkshireman came into the race in outstanding form, most ably demonstrated by his second place on Alpe d’Huez during the Criterium du Dauphine in June, but was prevented from using it after he was caught in the stage four crash that ended Mark Cavendish’s race.

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“It’s definitely been ups and downs,” said Swift. “I came in well on the back of the Dauphine and the national championships but the crash in Vittel really took its toll on me.

Steve CummingsSteve Cummings
Steve Cummings

“Then when I started to come around again I got sick in the second week.

“I got better and better in the final week and started to feel more like myself. It would have been nice to get a better result on Friday but it didn’t go right there in the end.”

Swift had been active in the 20-man break on Friday’s stage 19 to Salon-de-Provence, but was caught out at just the wrong moment as the group split and Swift was left behind, missing his last chance to get a result.

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“It was just one moment of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, really,” he said. “I made the decision to use the other riders a little and try to look after myself because in the past I’ve maybe done too much in the breaks.

Steve CummingsSteve Cummings
Steve Cummings

“But just at the moment I drifted to the back there was a sudden split. Because most of the teams had a guy in the front group they just sat up and it’s so hard to get back from there.”

Swift rode the 2011 Tour for Team Sky, but with the British squad putting its focus solely on the yellow jersey in the years that followed, the Rotherham sprinter was left out.

He left Sky in the winter to join UAE Team Emirates, and now has his opportunities again in the grand tours.

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“The first time I rode the Tour it was a nervous experience,” the 29-year-old said. “Now it feels a more normal sort of race, just another race. It’s obviously special and it’s nice to get it finished.

“I will look back with mixed feelings, a bit of regret that I didn’t quite get a better result, but it’s the first grand tour I’ve done since 2014. It’s a long time, and you definitely notice that.”

A third Tour de France stage win in as many years also proved too much to ask from Steve Cummings after he battled back from an injury-plagued start to the season.

But the 36-year-old will leave Paris proud to have made it to the end of a race he could not even be sure he would start until the week before the Grand Depart in Dusseldorf.

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Cummings was only able to resume training in late May following an early April crash in which he fractured his collarbone, scapula and sternum, but he rebounded to win the British national road race and time trial in June.

That performance sealed his ticket to the Tour, and gave him hope he might have the legs to pull off another victory.

“I have to be honest with myself,” he said. “My wife pointed out it was May 28 I started back on the road. It’s not been ideal preparation, but I wanted to get to this point and know I’d done everything I can to try and do something good in the Tour.

“I have to be proud.”

Cummings’s sports director Roger Hammond had said Team Dimension Data felt like the world was against them at times during the Tour. They lost star sprinter Cavendish when he crashed out on stage four, and then saw Edvald Boasson Hagen twice be denied in photo finishes and twice finish third.

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But the run of frustration was ended on Friday when the Norwegian won in Salon-de-Provence.

“I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get the result, but super happy Edvald won and for the team,” added Cummings. “It’s been difficult this year, Cav’s been sick and I’ve been injured, but we never stopped fighting and nobody deserved it more than Eddy. We can all be happy.”

Cummings’s best day came on stage 12 to Peyragudes, where he went solo out of the breakaway and threatened to stay clear before being caught on the Col de Peyresourde.

“I just pride myself on doing my best and that was my best,” he said. “That day I was physically as good as I’ve been on any other day in my career.”

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Cummings hopes to line up in the Tour of Britain, a race he won in 2016, before heading to the World Championships at the end of the season.

He is expected to sign a new two-year contract with Dimension Data, and said he is loving life at a team where a big part of the focus is on supporting the Qhubeka charity, which distributes bikes in Africa to help people access education and work.

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