KIWI RIDERS FORCED TO TAKE A BACK SEAT
‘‘You don’t truly know what you’re made of until you put yourself under tests like that.’’
‘‘There was a rider in front of me and I stayed behind for a little too long.’’
Hamish Bond says cycling has proved tougher than rowing.
The dual-Olympic rowing gold medallist won a bronze medal in the men’s individual time trial at the Commonwealth Games yesterday.
‘‘I thought it would be easier than rowing, but it’s so much harder.
‘‘In terms of keeping things all running sweetly, there’s so many things that can go wrong on a bike.’’
Bond raced over the 38.5km course at Currumbin in 48 minutes and 45.45 seconds – putting him in the lead after the first half of the field completed their rides.
Australian Cameron Meyer, the third-to-last rider to start, then blitzed his way to victory by 32.41 seconds over the Kiwi, with England’s Harry Tanfield 2.15 seconds ahead of Bond in the silver spot.
A short time later, New Zealand’s Linda Villumsen had to settle for silver in the women’s time trial, with the defending champion unable to match the pace of Australia’s Katrin Garfoot, who won by almost a minute.
But most eyes were on Bond, after his much-talked about transition from rowing. ‘‘I’m pretty satisfied,’’ he said.
‘‘I said when I got off the bike, I was pleased. Inevitably when you’re sitting in the hot seat and you see the margins, only a couple of seconds to second place . . . you start thinking of all those things you could have done marginally a bit better.
‘‘Probably my best execution in one of my bigger time trials.
‘‘That was something I always prided myself on in rowing was making it count on the big day, and I feel I did that pretty well today.
‘‘I’m pleased with the decision to give this a go – life’s about challenges. You don’t truly know what you’re made of until you put yourself under tests like that, and I seem to have a habit of picking some pretty big ones to chew up.’’
The 32-year-old, who was unbeaten in rowing for eight years in the men’s pair with Eric Murray before making the switch with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mind, said he was facing ‘‘continual evolution of small returns’’ as his experience on the bike grew.
But he acknowledged he was making worthwhile progress.
‘‘There’s been ticked boxes along the way and this was one of them.
‘‘A medal was probably the requirement in terms of the ticked box to say ‘OK, that job done, we can reassess and move forward’. The world champs and Olympic Games is another level entirely – I’m realistic about that.
‘‘While it was a well-executed good performance, I don’t think it’s the ultimate that I can achieve on a time trial bike.’’
As for Villumsen, she was unable to match Garfoot in a battle of the expat veterans.
New Zealand’s Rushlee Buchanan was fifth.
Villumsen, 33, will also contest the road race at the weekend, as will Garfoot.
Garfoot, 36, was the bronze medallist in the time trial at last year’s world champs in Norway and third in Glasgow in 2014.
The first two home share some similarities, with Villumsen born in Denmark before moving to New Zealand. Garfoot was born in Germany and came to New Zealand to study at university before moving to the Gold Coast in 2008 and becoming an Australian citizen in late 2013.
‘‘I gave it everything I could,’’ Villumsen said, describing the conditions as ‘‘quite gusty’’.
The 2015 world champion said she planned to go harder than usual in the beginning but probably made a tactical error on the course.
‘‘There was a rider in front of me and I stayed behind for a little too long. I should have passed earlier.’’