New Zealand cyclist gains Pro Tour contract with Radioshack

World track cycling medallist Jesse Sergent is the latest BikeNZ rider to secure a Pro Tour contract.

Sergent, 22, from Feilding has landed a contract with Lance Armstrong’s Team Radioshack after competing for the past two years for its Trek-Livestrong Under-23 team.

He becomes the fifth kiwi currently riding for a major team, including fellow Commonwealth Games track team-mate Sam Bewley at Radioshack, Julian Dean (Garmin-Transitions), Greg Henderson (Team Sky) and Hayden Roulston (HTC Colombia).

Sergent is delighted with the news and excited about the future.

“The last two years with Trek-Livestrong has been really great and right now I am enjoying my time on trial with Radioshack,” said Sergent.

“My immediate focus is on preparing for the Commonwealth Games but this is very exciting. It’s given me plenty of incentive to work hard this summer to prepare myself for the Pro Tour which is a dream come true.”

Sergent won a silver medal in the individual pursuit at this year’s world championships and a key member of the BikeNZ team that won bronze in the team pursuit. He recently won the time trial stage in the Tour of Gila over American stars Dave Zabriskie and Levi Leipheimer. He is a former world champion in team pursuit at the junior world championship, a bronze medallist in the same event at the Beijing Olympics and the New Zealand record holder for the individual pursuit.

BikeNZ High Performance Director, Mark Elliott said it was further excellent news for the burgeoning cycling programme in this country.

“Jesse is a class act and it’s rewarding that our riders who are producing world quality performances on the track within the BikeNZ programme are getting professional opportunities on the road,” he said.

“Jesse has been assured that he will be able to still ride the track in line with his goal of the London Olympics and I am sure he will be a real asset to the Radioshack organisation.”

Sergent, who is currently on a stagiaire trial at Radioshack with fellow kiwi Clinton Avery, heads to Belgium tomorrow to compete in series of one-day races before joining the New Zealand track team in Bordeaux next week to begin final preparations for Delhi.

Meanwhile the other members of the BikeNZ endurance track squad had a tougher day on the second stage of the AS-en-Provence Tour in France today.

The tough and hilly 149km circuit stage saw the kiwi track specialists struggle in the latter parts of the race, with Te Awamutu’s Pete Latham, Hawkes Bay’s Westley Gough and Auckland’s Aaron Gate finishing five minutes behind the break.

That mean Latham lost his leader’s yellow jersey and Gough moved to third place in the young rider category after they won the opening team time trial.

They lost Myron Simpson early after he snapped a chain while an ill Shane Archbold retired with a lap remaining. The relentless pressure at the front of the race by the climbing specialists in the French teams took its toll eventually with the New Zealanders fighting hard but no match for the break group that pushed their lead out to five minutes.

“While the boys were disappointed, the main target of this tour is to get some solid racing in their legs before they go into final preparations on the track later this week,” said coach Stuart McDonald. “Their primary focus is Delhi and so they could not expect to match the climbers in the other teams.”

Tomorrow’s third stage is 148km with rolling terrain which is not as severe as today’s climbs.

Meanwhile the Commonwealth Games sprint squad found good form in racing in Germany today.

They were led by Auckland’s Sam Webster, the 2009 triple world junior world champion, who won the sprint competition after going to three rides in each of his elimination races. Earlier Eddie Dawkins (Invercargill) qualified third fastest only 2/10ths of a second off the track record and went on to finish eighth in a close ride-off for fifth to eighth placings.

Manawatu’s Simon van Velthooven, fresh from competing in the prestigious Japan professional keirin competition, took out the final impressively while Auckland’s Ethan Mitchell was only 1/10th of a second off the 2007 track record of Beijing triple gold medallist Chris Hoy in the flying lap, finishing second.

They have further racing planned in Darmstadt tomorrow and Berlin on Monday (NZ time).

General classification after two stages AS en Provence Tour: Yohan Cauquil (MSC) 3h47m43s, 1; Romain Ramier (AVCA) at 3s, 2; Thomas Lebas (AVCA) at 3s, 3. Also: Westley Gough (NZL) at 4:52, 16; Pete Latham (NZL) at 4:52, 17; Aaron Gate (NZL) at 8:24, 32; Marc Ryan (NZL) at 23:54, 50.