Cyclist readies for Olympics

Published date15 July 2021
Part of the 19-strong New Zealand cycling team, Patrick is training in Andorra, for the time trial and the road race events at the Tokyo Olympics.

“It was so exciting to get selected. It’s the pinnacle of sport. It’s been a crazy couple of years building up to this point.”

Patrick says he has been preparing for the Olympics since 2018, and is 100 per cent focused on the men’s time trial. He says the latest best indication of where he ranks in the world was when he placed fourth in the 2019 UCI Road World Championships, just 2.16 seconds off bronze medal winner Filippo Ganna, of Italy.

“It was New Zealand’s best-ever result for a male cyclist,” says his Taupō-based mother, Jenny.

Patrick says it’s hard to know where the Olympic field of time trialists stands.

“I’m aiming for a medal and I definitely want my best performance. But it’s anyone’s game. It’s the athlete against the clock and it’s a long, hard individual event.”

He says the time trial course in Tokyo will be tough, “it’s a unique course and I will have to deal with the heat”.

The course is a 44.2km loop around Mt Fuji with a vertical gain of 846m. It’s 24C in Tokyo compared with a cool 13C in Andorra, a tiny principality in the Pyrenees mountains where Patrick has been based for the past two years.

He lives there with his partner of two years, Abbie Smith from Te Awamutu, who is studying psychology. He says living in Andorra gives him the chance to train at high altitude, and also to save tax. The town where he lives also has facilities for high-performance cyclists and athletes from other codes: triathletes, mountain runners, mountain bikers and motocross riders.

Cycling New Zealand director Martin Barras says Patrick is accomplished in road racing.

“And he’s a world-class time trialist.”

Patrick says as far as the road race event goes, he is there in a supporting role for fellow cyclist George Bennett (who rose to No.26 in the world this year) who Martin describes as New Zealand’s best-performing road rider in two decades.

“It’s a weird quirk of the Olympics that I have to start the road race event if I want to compete in the time trial.

“In an ideal world, I wouldn’t start another race three days before the time trial.

“I’ll be there for the first half of the road race for George and then that will be my day. I have zero ambitions for the road race.”

He has competed in the Tour de France three times and a career highlight was winning the 2018 Tour de France team time trial in the third stage...

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