Early puncture derails Bond
WELLINGTON: The air went out on Hamish Bond’s remarkable cycling undertaking, literally, but the rowing great says he is not done with his new sport.
Bond suffered a puncture early in the time trial at the road cycling world championships in Bergen, Norway yesterday, leaving him to battle to a 39thplaced finish out of 64 riders.
It was a disappointing outcome for the 31yearold Kiwi in his first appearance at a major international event since taking up cycling after winning his second Olympic rowing gold medal in Rio last year.
His time for the 31.74km test of 48min 14.92sec was 3min 33sec behind dominant winner, Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, the Giro d’Italia champion who was nearly a minute clear of the rest of the field. Sixteenthfastest after the first lap, Bond suffered the puncture and dropped to 44th at the midrace time check.
The seventime rowing world champion dug deep to finish 39th but it was not the outcome he had planned for.
‘‘You try and deliver a clinical, smooth race and the puncture threw everything out the window. I tried but it threw me off my game,’’ Bond said.
‘‘It was out of my control but something I prided myself on in my rowing career was getting those things right and executing on race day.
‘‘Regardless of if it was my fault or illluck, it was disappointing not to be able to show what I was capable of.’’
Bond was pleased with his exacting and gruelling preparation and believes he was in prime physical condition to make a name for himself among the sport’s premier cyclists.
He will take time to evaluate his code switch but believes he has more to give to cycling.
He has next year’s Commonwealth Games in his sights.
‘‘My goal is to be competitive with the top people in the sport,’’ he said. ‘‘Unfortunately I was not able to execute today to put myself in a position to show that but I have come a long way in the last 12 months and it would be a shame not to leverage off.’’ — NZN