Ben Swift targets new deal with Ineos Grenadiers after playing lead Giro d’Italia role for Geraint Thomas

For like a fine wine, the Rotherham rider is getting better with age.

It is sometimes easy to forget that Swift was competing for Great Britain in the road race at the Beijing Olympics as long ago as 2008.

Now, some 15 years on, the one-time sprinter has become a reliable road captain, one who has just ushered Thomas through the Italian mountains, and a father figure to a whole host of young riders on the Ineos Grenadiers books; Leeds phenomenon Tom Pidcock, teenage prospect Josh Tarling, and his younger cousin, Connor.

It is that innate ability to lead by example that he hopes the Ineos management see fit to reward with a new contract when his current deal expires at the end of this season.

“I definitely want to carry on next season,” Swift told The Yorkshire Post from earlier in the Giro d’Italia.

“It’s something I’ve been meaning to sit down with the team about, I want to sit down with Rod (Ellingworth), but we’ve both been so busy.

“The way that I handle myself, go about things as a senior figure, leading the team quite a lot… Not necessarily saying ‘do this, do that’ but leading by example.

“In Paris-Nice I was rooming with Josh Tarling who’s only 19, just by being in a room together on his first World Tour stage race.

"It’s kind of just the little things that he will hopefully have picked up and, for me, it’s almost like being a father figure to these younger team-mates.

“But it’s also about taking a bit more responsibility, standing up for the team in training camps when we’re doing our meetings, being a bit more vocal about what myself and the riders expect from the team.

“The team understand my value in that. We have both said we need to speak.”

Connor Swift would be an obvious fit for the elder Swift to mentor, but since the 27-year-old from Doncaster only joined Ineos this year after three years with Arkea Samsic, their opportunities to ride together have been limited to just one race and one training ride.

“It’s weird,” smiles Ben. “I remember taking him out when I was first a pro and he was just a young lad and I had all my kit on and felt I needed to look after him a lot more, whereas now I’m quite happy to see if he’s hurting.”

Swift first signed for a continental team back in 2007, then stepped up to the World Tour with Russian outfit Katusha in 2009.

A year later he joined Sky and has spent only two years since outside the bubble of the British squad that dominated the Grand Tours for nearly a decade.

It is no boast to say that as he has evolved as a rider he has become a better cyclist – his two biggest wins came in his early 30s at the 2019 and 2021 British road race championships.

“I’m hoping I’ve got many years left. I want to keep going until I don’t enjoy it any more. While I’m still performing, why not?” he says.

“I’d say I’m at my best, not in terms of personal results, but at the best level that I have shown consistently ever since rejoining the team back in 2019.

“I’ve set a new bar for myself but I’ve been quite consistent with it.

“With all the technology and the advanced training we do now, and nutrition, then if you’re still enjoying it and you still want to do the hard work, then you can go for longer.

“I don’t want to put a number on how many more years. Let’s get a new contract and we’ll take it from there.”

Beyond a life in the saddle, Swift is open-minded. He has a young family back on the Isle of Man and is conscious that he spends a lot of time on the road already.

But his leadership and mentoring role as a senior rider points to a natural move into team management when he finally does rest those legs.

“It’s always something I never really wanted to do because we’re on the road so much already, but then again cycling has been my life since I was three and it’s been my profession since my late teens,” he admits.

“In one way I’m quite fortunate that I’ve never had a proper job, I’ve never done a 9-5.

"I’ve never done a day’s work in my life if you don’t include cycling as work.

“It’s the thing I know and it will be very hard to step away from it and start anew, especially with the passion I’ve got for cycling.

“I’ll definitely stay in the sport somewhere, but that’s a discussion for a later date.”

Thomas will wear the leader’s pink jersey into Saturday’s decisive mountain time trial after Primoz Roglic could take only a handful of seconds out of the Welshman’s advantage on the Queen stage in the Dolomites.

Roglic cut Thomas’ advantage to just 26 seconds going into the race against the clock to the top of the Monte Lussari.