Top young prospect signs with leading pro cycling team

Twenty-year-old Southland cyclist Tom Scully has been signed up for professional contract with one of the sport’s biggest teams just weeks after returning to the bike.

Scully has signed a deal to join the under-23 team of American team Slipstream Sports, the same organisation that top kiwi rider Julian Dean competes for.

It marks a significant turn in fortunes for the Southlander whose young career was in jeopardy six months ago when he crashed heavily into a power pole at 60 kph while competing for the BikeNZ team in the RAS Tour of Ireland.

His injuries required three operations for his seriously damaged knee and tendons, with initial reports suggesting he would be out of the sport for a year.

“I’m really excited about the news,” Scully said today. “Slipstream are one of the really big professional teams and it is going to be a fantastic challenge and experience.”

He said it has gone some way to compensating for missing out on the Commonwealth Games this year.

BikeNZ High Performance Director Mark Elliott said he was delighted with the contract.

“It is great news for Tom and for our programme. I know just how hard he has worked on his rehabilitation. It means another of our top track riders is going to get great competition and experience with a professional team on the global scene.

“We’ve been working with Tom on this deal and we are pleased that the team understand that Tom’s focus is firmly fixed on the track in the next 20 months to the London Olympics but this opportunity will help him considerably in his goals in that respect and with his long term cycling career.”

Scully was competing with the endurance track team on the road in Ireland in preparations for Delhi when he suffered his accident. Despite his years, Scully was earmarked as a potential medallist after he won the scratch race at the UCI World Cup in Melbourne late last year and was third in both points race, the Madison and the team pursuit at the Beijing World Cup in January.

It is also testament to his dedication to rehabilitation in Christchurch at the New Zealand Academy of Sport under BikeNZ head physiotherapist Mark Hollands.

“I spent a full day there every day. My day would include a spin bike session, gym work, core strength work, weights, physio and massage on the leg and lots of aqua jogging.

“I had the best treatment and I did absolutely everything I could to make sure I could come back as soon as possible and in good shape.”

Two months ago he was given the green light to return to riding and he was thrilled to get through the recent Powernet Tour of Southland only seven weeks after returning to full training.

He had recently been back in touch with the American professional team after initial contact last year.

“Our track head coach Tim Carswell said that 2011 had to be a big year for me on the roads. Through some contacts we had talked to Slipstream Sports but the accident stopped that. We got in touch with them again and they said they were interested – and we just had to assure them I was over the injury.”

Scully said it was a big year for the under-23 group as they have become a full Continental team and will race more in Europe as well as the US. They will be based in Girona in Spain, which is where fellow kiwis Sam Bewley, Jesse Sergent and Hayden Roulston are also based.

“It’s just a fantastic opportunity and I am going to give it everything.”

Scully said the team had already given him the green light to be able to concentrate on track competition over the summer, joining Slipstream after the UCI World Championships in March.

This follows on from the news that three outstanding young New Zealand prospects have been signed to ride for the Trek-Livestrong development team next year.

The Christchurch pair of Michael Vink and Josh Atkins were signed recently, and today Nelson’s George Bennett has also been picked up by the US-based development team to Radioshack Pro Team. Vink and Atkins are New Zealand junior representatives on the track and road and Bennett has ridden in Europe this year and competed with the New Zealand endurance track team in some of their road events.

The trio follow on from Olympians San Bewley and Jesse Sergent who moved up from Trek Livestrong and will ride for the Radioshack pro tour team next year.