All-black bike almost cost Kiwi her job
their sponsors.
‘‘We weren’t happy right away. Our job as a trade team is to protect our sponsors. So of course it caught us off guard but it was more the timing than anything else. It was last minute and it didn’t give us much opportunity to discuss it with our sponsors and make sure that they knew what was going on. That was the most troubling part of it.’’
Former New Zealand cyclist Gordon McCauley knows a few things about time trialling – he won bronze at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in the event.
He said swapping bikes for national team events was nothing new.
‘‘She wasn’t riding for her team, she was riding for New Zealand, so I don’t really see it as an issue at all.
‘‘If you look at the Olympics, [British rider] Bradley Wiggins won gold [in 2012] in the time trial on a British built bike not on a Pinarello, who [his team] Sky were sponsored by.
‘‘If you look closely at a lot of the bikes at the world champs, a lot of people weren’t on [professional] team bikes or not in team equipment. Lots of them were on rebranded wheels and if you look really closely a lot of them just put incorrect stickers over the top.’’
Villumsen’s diminutive stature meant she needed a smaller bike for time trialling, McCauley said.
‘‘She’s quite small, it’s really, really hard to get a time trial bike that small, my wife is about the same height as Linda and getting her a time trial bike that small is really difficult.
‘‘Some companies actually don’t make a time trial bike that small, that could possibly be it, but I’m not on their team so I don’t know.
‘‘But if the bike doesn’t fit her, she can’t win, it would be like Usain Bolt trying to run the 200 metres in shoes that are too big, that’s what it’s akin to on a bike.’’
UHC have said they will probably fine Villumsen for the move, with McCauley saying he could see why they would take that approach.
‘‘They’re just trying to protect their sponsors interests and, if nothing else, they’ve just got to be seen to be protecting their sponsors interests.’’
Villumsen should be able to pay some of the fine with a boost in her homegrown funding – she will receive a $5000 increase from High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) as a result of the win.
Her results over the past year already had her close to the maximum, gold-medal level of funding, but this result had pushed her to the top-tier.
HPSNZ spokesman Laurie Edwards would not confirm the full funding figure, but said the world championships had been a performance target for the Kiwi cyclist.
‘‘We’re just ecstatic for her, it’s a great result that she has been working towards for years.’’