New Zealand cyclist Aaron Gate won’t defend his four Commonwealth Games titles this year, instead hoping to tick off a new first.
Four years ago, Gate made history by becoming the first New Zealander to win four gold medals at a CommonwealthGames.
He won three on the track (team pursuit, individual pursuit and points race) and the road race.
Gate, 35, has just completed his first full season with a World Tour road team, XDS Astana, and impressed so much that the Kazakhstan-registered outfit has signed him on for another two years.
He admitted a lot would have to change before he would consider competing in the Glasgow Games this year.
“It would have been nice to go back and do another Commonwealth Games, but you have to pick your battles sometimes,” he told RNZ.
“The team [XDS Astana] has been very supportive of me so far, so I’m going to give them my unwavering support for the season and just focusing on the road and doing that job.”
Aaron Gate: "You have to pick your battles sometimes." Photo / Gisborne Herald
Gate hasn’t competed on the track in more than a year, but felt that the team New Zealand was preparing was very strong.
Besides, he jokingly admitted that it would have been hard to trump what he achieved in Birmingham in 2022.
“I guess in some ways it is good to quit while you’re ahead, and I may be getting a bit old for the next Commonwealth Games [in 2030], but you never know.”
Instead, he has his sights set on the greatest race in cycling – the Tour de France.
Having joined a World Tour team for the first time last year, the opportunity to ride the Tour de France had never come up before, but his team has earmarked him for the race in July.
Gate has watched it often and spoken to many people about it.
Aaron Gate riding on the track. Photo / Photosport
“It is one of the craziest experiences you can do as an athlete, with all eyes on everything at all times.
“Having been to the Olympics [2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024] on the track, it is a similar high-pressure environment where you need to perform at that moment, and there is a lot riding on it.
“The Tour de France is like that, but the difference is there are 180 guys in the bunch, and so it is going to be very stressful and at times not enjoyable, but it’s the achievement of doing the job well.”
For now, Gate will compete in the Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race this month before heading to Europe to prepare for the northern season in February.
