Bond faces an uphill battle

Hamish Bond expects to suffer up Mount Floyen.

Tonight’s time trial at the UCI Road World Championship in Bergen, Norway, finishes with a testing twisting 3.4km climb. It begins at a nine per cent gradient but goes above 10 per cent for large sections.

Four-time champion Tony Martin has already described himself as having ‘‘very little chance of success’’ because of the mountaintop finish, the 31km course instead playing into the hands of grand tour winners Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin.

For a lightweight rider like George Bennett that climb was the sole reason he planned to enter the time trial instead of the road race, only for ongoing illness to force him out of the event all together.

But for Bond, who tips the scales between 79-80kg, the climb presents a big challenge.

‘‘You’ve just got to keep pedalling, don’t you.

‘‘You can only do what you can do. I know I’m going to have to suffer and I know it’s going to be hard, but it’s not something I haven’t done before,’’ said Bond, who hit the hill for some practice runs on Monday.

‘‘I’ll push as hard as I can and hopefully the wheels go round and I can get up. I’m sure by halfway up I’ll want it to end and I’ll look forward to the finish - I’ll probably looking forward to the finish before I event start.’’

Meanwhile, Bond said it was a shame that Bennett will not be competing at the world championships as he was one of the first people he told about his ambition to switch sports from rowing to cycling.

‘‘I was set down to be rooming with George in the hotel and I was looking forward to that. I have met George a few times and he was actually one of the first people I ever talked to about this,’’ Bond said.

‘‘I mentioned it to him at the Olympics in Rio, that I was aiming at having a bit of a go for a while.

‘‘I did a race with him in Nelson and stayed with his parents and him.

’’In terms of my individual performance I’m not sure how it would have impacted it but it’s a shame for him obviously given that he thought this course would suit him better than a typical time trial course and he wasn’t able to get healthy for it.’’

With Jack Bauer, Patrick Bevin and Dion Smith expected to arrive later in the week, Bond was unsure if he would even cross paths with any of the other senior men’s riders in the New Zealand squad but he said there was a good feeling among the Kiwi contingent so far.

‘‘I guess it’s always nice to have someone to offer support or vice-versa, but I think it’s a good team over here, good environment and good morale so everyone is looking forward to doing as best they can in what is a truly international stage with a lot of depth and a lot of competition.’’