April 25, 2008 – Among the teams participating at the 2008 Tour De Georgia, you might describe Canada’s Symmetrics’ role as the “sleeper” squadron. While yet to podium at Georgia they’ve come close and the team of eight Canadians has fought hard, both in the sprints and the breakaways, from the get-go. But the S-Team man that most of the other riders in the peloton were focused on this week was Svein Tuft. After Tuft’s dramatic win at the inaugural running of the U.S. Open Cycling Championships in 2007, people knew that he was not a rider that could be taken lightly. We spoke to Tuft earlier in the week about the team, his potential Olympic aspirations, and what he has on his wish list for 2008.

Going back to the big win in the U.S. Open last year, can you characterize what impact that had on the remainder of your 2007 season?
Svein Tuft: It was huge for the motivation. It definitely set us on a different trajectory in terms of what our goals were for the year because of the UCI points involved in that race. It sent us chasing after the America Tour. So it kind of set the tone for the rest of the year, for myself, and the team as well. We ended up having our best year ever. It started off good in Cuba, and then hit U.S. Open from there. It was a bit of a shocker, but then it was just a case of trying to maintain that momentum.

Did that also impact your training in the off-season in terms how you could improve on how well you did in 2007?
ST: It was a bit of a long season for me. We did the World Cup in January, and then I just tried to hold form well into August. We went to Venezuela for a 14-day stage race and then flew straight to Tour of Missouri. Then I had the Road Worlds in October just after that. For me, that’s why I started really late this year. This is my first road race of the season just because I had to mentally refresh and physically just get back to what I know I need to do to do well at in the latter part of this year. So I’m switching it up in that sense. I feel like I’m just starting to come into some form now at Georgia. Then I do Pan Ams and Philly Week, which both are big for us.

What about the Beijing Olympics? What do you think your chances are to make that squad?
ST: That’s why I’m going down to Pan Ams. The selection is based on performances from January 1, 2007 so that bodes well for me based on last year. But you never know as far as the selection goes, which makes it hard because you can never say whether or not you need to be at your best for that time of the year. But that’s my plan. I’m training as if I’m going. And if not, so be it. There’s plenty of racing in my future.

What do you think of the Olympic course? Have you taken a serious look at it?
ST: I’ve heard it’s brutal with a lot of climbing. In a circuit race you can always judge what you’re able to do. I haven’t ridden the course, so I have no idea how difficult it is, but from what I’ve heard it’s pretty tough.

What about this week? Is there any chance you might hunt for a stage win once things get a little hillier?
ST: Oh yeah, yesterday we had those guys attacking in the finishing sprints (in Augusta). We’re showing that the harder the courses are, the better it suits us. Christian (Meier) is riding very well right now, so I think if we can look after him into the base of Brasstown, he’s going to have a good ride. These field sprints are a bit of a crap shoot and yesterday Pinfold had a good ride with fifth. If we keep racing like we do as a team and we’re always at the finish, eventually something’s going to pan out here.

All the best.
ST: Thanks