Cycling: Rio Olympics set for back seat

Rotorua's Sam Bewley has returned home after a big year racing overseas.Photo / Stephen Parker

Double Olympic medallist Sam Bewley says he may skip the Rio Olympics to concentrate on his career in road cycling.

Bewley returned home to Rotorua on Saturday to undergo surgery on his hip, ending his season early with professional cycling team Orica-GreenEdge.

The 26-year-old plans to spend the next three months in New Zealand after returning from his Spanish base in Girona.

Since returning, Bewley said he had talked to BikeNZ about his future in track cycling, which has seen him win two Olympic bronze medals in the team pursuit.

He said he would be concentrating on road cycling at least for next year and may miss the Rio Olympics altogether.

"It is a hard one, I love the track and I would like to go to Rio but I will have to see how the team is going and how I'm going," he said.

"It is really time-consuming [qualifying for the Olympics]. The road would have to take a back seat again and maybe it is time for the track to take the back seat."

Bewley said he was looking forward to having a full season on the bike next year with Orica-GreenEdge, after injury cut the season short this year.

He said he was really enjoying his time with the Australian-owned professional cycling team.

"They have been really supportive," he said. "I love it, it is an awesome team. I would stay on this team as long as I could."

Bewley said the highlight of his year was racing in his first grand tour, the Tour of Spain.

However, Bewley said he had been having trouble with his hip since the grand tour in August.

He said his hip injury had got worse during the UCI Road World Championships last month.

"At the World Champs in the time trial it was really bad, I couldn't really stand up on my left leg," he said.

"I'm going to have surgery in two weeks' time so it doesn't give me trouble for the rest of my career."

He said it was relatively minor pin-hole surgery which would relieve some of the stress in the joint.

"I broke my collar bone in April so had that operated on as well this year," he said. "It is a bit frustrating but that is sport."

Bewley said fellow Rotorua cyclist Julian Dean had been training and mentoring him this year, helping him become a quality lead-out rider.

"He is someone I always look up to. We raced together last year and now he is coaching me," he said.

"He is one of those guys who has a natural mentoring attitude."

Bewley said his long-term goal was to become a regular rider in the biggest cycling tours in the world.

He said it was more than likely he would represent Orica-GreenEdge in the Tour of Italy next year, which would be his second grand tour.

Bewley will start the 2014 season in late January.