Hayden Roulston

Hayden Roulston MNZM (born 10 January 1981, in Ashburton) is a former New Zealand professional racing cyclist.[2] He won the silver medal in the men's 4000 m individual pursuit and a bronze medal in the men's 4000 m team pursuit at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[3]

Hayden Roulston
MNZM
Roulston in 2020
Personal information
Full nameHayden Roulston
Born (1981-01-10) 10 January 1981
Ashburton, New Zealand
Height1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight78 kg (172 lb)
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad and track
RoleRider
Rider typeClassics specialist
Professional teams
2002–2004Cofidis
2005Discovery Channel
2006Health Net–Maxxis
2009Cervélo TestTeam
2010–2011Team HTC–Columbia
2012–2015RadioShack–Nissan[1]
Major wins
Grand Tours
Vuelta a España
1 TTT stage (2010)

One-day races and Classics

National Road Race Championships
(2006, 2011, 2013, 2014)

Professional career

Roulston was a talented junior rider on both road and track and competed for New Zealand on the track and initially on the road for a club team in France. He turned professional with the French team Cofidis in 2002 where he remained for two seasons before moving to Discovery Channel for 2005. His season with Discovery Channel featured some impressive rides but was interrupted by injury and eventually ended when he resigned after an incident in a Christchurch bar. He attempted to relaunch his professional road career in the US when he signed for Continental Pro team Health Net–Maxxis and began strongly with two top ten stage finishes in the Tour of California beating many big name ProTour regulars. Unfortunately for Roulston his first year at HealthNet ended when a medical examination revealed irregular heart activity and he was advised to stop riding immediately.[4]

Back home in New Zealand he experimented with some alternative remedies and was soon back riding – and winning. Without a contract but still motivated to ride he won the National Road Race title in 2006 and back to back Tour of Southland and Tour of Wellington titles in 2006 and 2007. In addition to the road races he returned to the track and won several titles at the New Zealand and Oceania track championships.

Roulston had invested a six-figure sum with a New Zealand company that failed in October 2007 during the global financial crisis. Roulston confided in Craig Adair, a track cycling gold medallist at the 1982 Commonwealth Games, that he was about to pull out of the preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics, but Adair and four of his friends decided to provide finance for him during this difficult time, and Roulston continued with his preparations.[5]

Roulston was selected for the New Zealand team to compete at the 2008 World Track Championships in Manchester where he narrowly missed medals in the 4000 m individual pursuit (4th) and Team Pursuit (4th) as well as finishing 9th in the Madison with Greg Henderson. Having performed so strongly in Manchester, he was selected for the Beijing Olympics, where he focused on improving his 4th placed pursuit rides. Former New Zealand track coach Ron Cheatley suggested his best bet will be to drop the Madison and focus on the complementary pursuit events in much the same fashion as Kiwi pursuit rider Sarah Ulmer. Ulmer quit road racing and focused solely on her pursuit preparation before the 2004 Athens Olympics where she went on to smash the world record and take the gold medal in the women's 3000 m individual pursuit.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Roulston won the silver medal in the 4000 m individual pursuit, defeated in the gold medal race by Bradley Wiggins. He also featured as a member of the Bronze medal winning New Zealand team pursuit squad, although he did not race in the qualifying rounds.[6] He came 10th in the Madison with his team mate Greg Henderson.[7]

In September 2008, Roulston announced that he would be riding for Cervélo TestTeam in 2009, with riders including reigning Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre and multiple Tour de France stage winner Thor Hushovd.

In the 2009 Tour of California, Roulston began a perfectly executed lead out to allow team sprinter Thor Hushovd to win Stage 3.[8] In stage 7 Roulston almost won the stage himself after breaking free from a ten-man breakaway that included Fränk Schleck, George Hincapie and Christian Vande Velde. Roulston was 2nd after a photo finish with Rinaldo Nocentini.[9] Roulston finished 35th overall.

Roulston came second in the Men's road race at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, winning the silver medal.

In October 2015 Roulston announced his retirement from road racing, having previously revealed that he would make a return to the track with a view to competing in the team pursuit at the 2016 Summer Olympics.[10]

Major results
2002
2nd Overall Tour of Wellington
1st Stage 2
3rd Team pursuit, Commonwealth Games
2003
1st Stage 7 Tour de Pologne
2nd Madison (with Greg Henderson), UCI Track World Championships
2nd Overall Tour de Vineyards
1st Stages 2 & 3
2004
1st Stage 1 Tour de Wallonie
1st Stage 3 Tour of Southland
2nd Tour du Doubs
3rd Road race, National Road Championships
2006
1st Road race, National Road Championships
National Track Championships
1st Individual pursuit
1st Team pursuit
1st Overall Tour of Wellington
1st Stages 3, 5 & 6
1st Overall Tour de Vineyards
1st Stages 1, 2 & 3
1st Overall Tour of Southland
1st Stage 1
1st Stage 2 McLane Pacific Classic
2nd Points race, Commonwealth Games
2007
1st Road race, Oceania Road Championships
1st Madison, Oceania Track Championships
1st Overall Tour of Wellington
1st Stages 1, 4 & 6
1st Overall Tour of Southland
1st Pegasus Subway Classic
2008
1st Overall Tour des Deux Sevres
1st Prologue
1st Overall Tour of Southland
Tour of Wellington
1st Stages 4 & 6
Olympic Games
2nd Individual pursuit
3rd Team pursuit
3rd Overall Tour de Vineyards
1st Stages 2 & 3
2009
1st Stage 1 (TTT) Tour of Southland
7th Overall Ster Elektrotoer
2010
1st Overall Tour of Southland
1st Stage 1 (TTT) Vuelta a España
1st Stage 6 Danmark Rundt
2nd Road race, Commonwealth Games
4th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
10th Paris–Roubaix
2011
1st Road race, National Road Championships
Tour of Southland
1st Stages 4 & 8
2013
1st Road race, National Road Championships
2014
1st Road race, National Road Championships
2016
1st Le Race
gollark: Yes, you would deny it, wouldn't you.
gollark: Tux1 is my alt.
gollark: Tux1 is also now apiomemetic.
gollark: Anyway, would you say heavserver *itself* is apiomemetic?
gollark: That would require effort.

References
  1. "RadioShack-Nissan-Trek announces lineup for 2012". VeloNews. Competitor Group, Inc. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  2. "Trek Factory Racing (TFR) – USA". UCI World Tour. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  3. "www.cyclingnews.com - the world centre of cycling". Autobus.cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  4. "Olympics: Hayden Roulston lone rider". Sunday Star Times. 27 July 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
  5. Savage, Jared; Cleaver, Dylan (24 August 2008). "Olympic hero loses life savings". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Transfer news: Roulston retires from road cycling". cyclingnews.com. 7 October 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
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