Kiwi cyclists claim secret weapon

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New Zealand's Olympic cyclists are secretly testing a revolutionary new cycling suit in France that they hope will shave critical fractions of a second off their times when their Games track campaign begins here in 10 days time.

Responding to reports that the British cycling team was set to unveil a super-aerodynamic "skinsuit" on Saturday, Bike NZ high performance manager Mark Elliot revealed  "we are doing something similar, but I am not going to tell you what". He declined even to say which of the team's sponsors had produced the suit. Cycling bosses were similarly secretive four years ago, keeping the innovative bike Sarah Ulmer used to win gold under wraps till shortly before she took to the track.

According to Britain's Daily Telegraph, the development of the British suit has been kept so secret that only Chris Boardman, British Cycling's director of research and development, and a small group of his closest associates,know the details of its material and design. But they hope it will have a same impact on cycling as the new, full body swimsuits have had on swimming. Forty-eight world swimming records have been broken since Speedo introduced its LZR Racer suit in February.

Elliot said the New Zealanders believed they were the only team to have the suit they were testing. He expected it to cause interest among other teams, but could not say whether it would cause surprise.  The suits are being tested by Hayden Roulston and other members of the track team doing a "complete Olympic replication" in France.

A decision on their use would be made in the next few days.

"We don't yet know whether they are better than what we have got," Elliot said.

In a related development, Japanese sprint cyclist Tomohiro Nagatsuka, winner of silver in the team sprint at the 2004 Athens Olympics, is planning to wear the Speedo swimsuit beneath his tracksuit at the Games after taking 0.2 seconds off his best time for 250m using the suit.

"I thought what was effective in swimming would be also good in cycling," he said.

Elliot said all teams were looking for technological advantages but success still came down to the same things it always did.

"They (the British) can show up with whatever they want. It comes down to how well the athletes are prepared. We know the British have got huge resources. We would expect nothing less. What we are focusing on is giving our athletes the best preparation we can."

- © Fairfax NZ News