Cycling: Country swap a coup for NZ

Linda Villumsen is equally adept at the road race and gruelling time trial. Photo / Richard Robinson

This is not a story of betrayal.

Linda Villumsen, 24, one of women's road cycling's best pedallers, has swapped the red of Denmark for the black of her adopted country, a move that has been greeted with as much anticipation by cycling officials here as it has been with scepticism in her Scandinavian home.

"Once I got citizenship it was the natural thing to do," she said. "The first time I race in black I will be really, really proud."

You could not blame her if it felt a little strange looking across the start line and seeing her former teammates. Her former national coach even told her it could be the most embarrassing thing she had ever done.

"I don't know, it could be strange," Villumsen said. "Some people have said it's a little bit like betraying my country, but I hope they understand one day that this [New Zealand] is my country now."

Villumsen came to Howick as a 17-year-old, enrolling at Pakuranga College, returning every year to live and train. Back then, as she does now, she lived with the Houkamau family, Angela and Bindy, "my second family".

"It's the country, it's the people, it's the lifestyle," she said as to what attracted the girl born in Herning, a town on the Danish European mainland, to New Zealand. "It reminds me a lot of Denmark."

Her cycling career nearly ended the first time she hopped on the plane and headed south, a long way south.

She decided not to take her bike, focusing instead on running and other sports. It wasn't long, however, before she decided she could not live without her wheels.

"My mum had to spend all the money she had sending my bike over," Villumsen said. "I missed it too much."

Villumsen is recognised as one of the most promising talents in her sport, equally adept at the road race and gruelling time trial.

At the Beijing Olympics she finished fifth in the road race and followed that with a stellar 2009, placing third in the time trial at the world championships and winning the stage race Thuringen Rundfahrt for her Team Columbia-HTC team.

In short, securing Villumsen's citizenship has been a coup for the BikeNZ.

High performance director Mark Elliott acknowledged that Villumsen was one of the world's best riders and her presence was a major boost for New Zealand's road cycling programme.

"Add Linda to the likes of Cath Cheatley, who was 10th at the world championships this year, potentially Rosara Joseph and a number of other riders with professional experience, and we will have a powerful team for the Commonwealth Games."

For her part, the Kiwi-Dane has been impressed by the increased depth in female cycling's talent pool.

Villumsen's immediate goal will be the national road champs in Christchurch early in the new year, though you will not see the best of her there. Villumsen is still in the big mileage phase of her preparation, with the big events of the year, the UCI road champs in Melbourne and the Delhi Commonwealth Games, happening in mid year and beyond.