Team Sky rider looking to build on third place last year
Friday 20 March 2015 15:28, UK
Ben Swift says he has the know-how, team and condition to challenge for victory Milan-San Remo on Sunday but admits the race is such a lottery that they may count for nothing.
Swift is set to lead a powerful eight-man Team Sky squad at the Italian one-day classic, which is the first of the year's five Monuments and the longest event on the calendar at 293km
The 27-year-old Yorkshireman finished an impressive third in his debut appearance last season and has made it is main target for the first half of 2015.
“Milan-San Remo was always a race that suited me on paper,” Swift told teamsky.com. “It was my first time doing it last year and I performed well there. That gave me the confidence to be able to target it this year and have it as an aim.
“I know just because I’m targeting it and been working towards it doesn’t mean I’m going to get a result. How to get on the podium last year was a bit of an unknown for me heading into it, but I know what’s coming this time.
“It’s potentially one of the easiest races to finish, but also one of the hardest races to get a result in because there are so many variables and different ways that it can be won. You only need to have a bad moment at the wrong time and all that hard work is for nothing.”
Milan-San Remo ends with two short but challenging climbs, the Cipressa and the Poggio, and then 5.5km of downhill and flat to the finish.
On paper sprinters have the best chance of winning, but the late climbs, bad weather and effects of the immense distance can combine to throw up alternative scenarios and bring different types of rider into contention.
Swift added: “I have done quite a bit of recon work. We know the climbs and Rod [Ellingworth, Team Sky coach] has seen it all before. He won it with Cav [Mark Cavendish, in 2009] before and he knows what it takes to win. We have worked really closely together on this goal.
“It will be good for Michael Matthews, Peter Sagan and guys like that. But there are so many riders who can perform well.”
