Ben Swift

Biography

Swift was born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, he began cycling with Mossley CRT aged 12. In 2003, he came second to fellow Olympian Steven Burke in the under 16 national scratch race championship. As a junior rider, Swift competed at the Junior Commonwealth Games, taking bronze in the points race, he won two national titles, the junior points race championship in 2004 followed by the junior scratch race in 2005. He also competed in the senior scratch race in 2005, demonstrating his ability by finishing third to take the bronze medal. Swift began competing internationally, winning several madison events. In 2012 he won the World Championship Men's Scratch Race, becoming Great Britain's first ever World Scratch Champion.

Professional career

He made his professional road debut in August 2007 joining Barloworld as a trainee during which time he won the King of the Mountains title in the Tour of Britain.

During 2008 he raced for the British Cycling development team and won his first UCI ranked race. He represented Great Britain in the 2008 Olympic Games road race and at the UCI Road World Championships where he finished fourth in the under 23 race.

Katusha

After the championships he signed a two-year professional contract with the new Russian Team Katusha.

In 2009 he was selected to ride the Giro d'Italia, taking a third-place finish in stage 2. He took his first professional win on the seventh stage of the Tour of Britain, leading Katusha teammate Filippo Pozzato in a one-two finish. Swift spoke with Cyclingnews.com in 2009, describing himself as "an allrounder, who can do well in the Classics and win stages. 'My weakness is in the time trial. I don't like doing them and I'm not really that good at them.'"

Team Sky

Swift joined the newly formed British-based Team Sky in January 2010. His transfer to Sky from Team Katusha part way through his contract was instrumental in the Union Cycliste Internationale considering new regulations for the transfer of riders between teams. During his first season with Sky Swift's most significant result came at the Tour de Picardie, at which he won one stage, the general classification, the points classification and best young rider.

2011 saw Swift win his first stage of a UCI World Tour race, winning stage two of the Tour Down Under in Adelaide. Four days later he also won stage six. Swift won Stage 2 of the Tour of California, and took the lead of the race, after Stage 1 was cancelled due to adverse weather. Swift was selected for the Tour de France ahead of Greg Henderson, and finished 6th on Stage 15.

In 2012 Swift focused on track cycling with a view to representing Great Britain in the 2012 Olympic Games. On 4 April, Swift won the Scratch Race at the World Championships to take the rainbow jersey. He finished second in the points race, and joined forces with Geraint Thomas to take silver in the madison.

Swift was scheduled to ride the Giro d'Italia, but was forced to withdraw after suffering a broken shoulder in a crash during a training ride the week before. Although he failed to gain selection from the long list for the British Olympic team, he was picked for the Team Sky squad for the Tour de Pologne, winning the second and fifth stages, as well as wearing that Tour's red-and-white points classification jersey Swift was selected as Sky's sprinter at the 2012 Vuelta a España, and finished second on Stage 18.

In March 2014, Swift achieved one of his biggest results to date by finishing third in Milan–San Remo. In April 2015, Swift crashed out of the newly created Tour de Yorkshire, injuring his shoulder.

On 19 March 2016, Swift finished second in Milan–San Remo, being narrowly outsprinted by Arnaud Démare (FDJ).

After seven seasons with Sky, in September 2016 Swift announced that he would join UAE Abu Dhabi on a two-year deal from 2017 in order to seek more opportunities to ride for himself.