GB youngsters power Swift to fifth place

Ben Swift praised the efforts of his younger team-mates in Bergen for saving his World Championships when they paced him back to the bunch after an ill-timed mechanical. The Yorkshireman went on to finish fifth which, Mark Cavendish aside, is Britain’s best result since Les West was fourth in 1970.

“Owain Doull and Jon Dibben brought me back after a bike change at a really bad moment,” explained Swift, who was streaked with dirt but surprisingly animated after 267 kilometres in the saddle. “My gears just stopped working, and it was on the lap the Belgians decided to really turn the screw on the climb. It was quite a hard chase — without those two, my race would have been over.”

Swift, who remained active and in the mix right up to the bunch sprint, said it had been a fine team effort by Great Britain, helped by a great atmosphere within the squad.

“This is one of the first races this year where I’ve had that full-on excitement to race again with the boys,” he said. “I think we can progress for the Yorkshire Worlds… we can take this team forwards and really gel well together.“

Coach Rod Ellingworth was in agreement: “We’ve been really impressed. I think for four out of this group it was their first time at the elite Worlds so it was about giving them an opportunity. They proved today they can work well as a unit.”