Young Kiwi learns from Lance Armstrong

Winning bronze at the last year's Beijing Olympics has opened doors for New Zealand cyclist Sam Bewley.

Lance Armstrong has offered Olympic bronze medallist Sam Bewley an entree to road cycling royalty.

Ahead of next week's UCI Road World Championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland, where he has been named in New Zealand's under-23 team, Bewley believes he is a far better rider than when he joined Armstrong's development team last January.

Bewley, 22, from Rotorua, and Feilding's Jesse Sergent, 21, were hand-picked for Armstrong's 11-man Trek-Livestrong team after their blistering ride with the New Zealand men's pursuit team in Beijing.

After eight months based in Boulder, Colorado, with the team, and racing throughout the United States and Europe, Bewley has rubbed shoulders with the biggest names in the sport.

"It's been a year of meeting three of the greatest cyclists. It's definitely turned me into a better rider," says Bewley, speaking from the Colorado flat he shares with Sergent.

Training with Armstrong and fellow Team Astana rider Levi Leipheimer had raised the bar, while current world individual pursuit champion Taylor Phinney, 19, was a highly regarded team-mate.

Bewley admitted he was sitting in an extremely privileged position. "It's pretty bizarre to be riding for a team that is owned and mentored by Lance Armstrong and Axel Merckx he was a rock star as well when he was a cyclist.

"To become friends with him [Axel Merckx] and be under his guidance is a pretty surreal feeling."

Bewley was all nerves when he first rode with Tour de France champion Armstrong, who was unbeatable on the hills.

"He's a pretty intimidating guy but someone that every cyclist has a lot of respect for. One day he was full of gas up one of the climbs and we all tried to stay with him. It was a pretty cool experience to get a real taste of how fast he actually is."

Bewley raced just once with Armstrong on the last stage of the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico. He was among a few select riders, including Sergent, to join Armstrong and Leipheimer.

"We were unknown to them but Lance obviously knew our names and knew that Jesse and I had both won a medal at the Olympic Games, so he knew we were strong enough to do the job on the day."

For Bewley, competing in the Paris-Roubaix under-23 race in April, in France, was the highlight of the season so far. He finished 14th, 30sec behind team-mate and under-23 champion Phinney.

"The race is so prestigious. The cobblestones are ridiculous, they're not like the cobblestones in someone's driveway. It's so rough and so hard on your body mentally and physically."

Eddie Merckx, father of Axel and regarded by many as the finest cyclist in history, was on hand during the tour to offer Bewley and his team-mates advice, and they joined him at his home for dinner.

"Eddie is the greatest cyclist. He has won more races than anyone, Tour de France, and Paris-Roubaix. He was in our team car and took our team meeting."

Bewley and Sergent leave the United States tomorrow to assemble with the New Zealand team in Switzerland. Bewley will ride the under-23 road race and Sergent the under-23 time-trial.

- © Fairfax NZ News