Ineos veteran Ben Swift earns DS qualification but keeps his options open

After nearly two decades as one of the WorldTour’s most dependable domestiques and lead out men, the Ineos Grenadiers rider got his chance to complete the course. It came at the perfect point in the calendar, with his team backing him to tick it off.

"I'm getting towards the end of my career now. This is year 18. I'm also 38 years of age now, so it's just something to do," Swift told Domestique after the Tour Down Under. "It falls at the right time of the year. Spoke to the team and just got it done. It's in the pocket then. You don't need to worry about it, and then we decide at a later date what path we go down when the time is right."

Swift praised Ineos for supporting riders through career transitions, noting that DS courses aren't always easy to access. But whether he'll actually step into the role remains uncertain. "Whether I actually do that in the future, I don't know. But at least i've got it now."

What is certain is that Swift won't be leaving cycling. "I've grown up in this sport. These have been my university years. I’m not going to go into a different industry. This is what my knowledge is. So I'll stay in cycling some way."

For now, Swift remains focused on racing. When asked if he had a few more years left, he smiled. "Maybe. You never know. Still enjoying it. Still did an alright lead out. As soon as you lose that enjoyment and you can't push yourself to the limit, then that's the time. But just keep your options open."

Part of what's keeping Swift motivated is the seamless partnership he has formed with new Ineos signing Sam Welsford. The Australian sprinter has already notched a win on stage 3 of the Tour Down Under with Swift in the lead out, and the veteran Brit has been impressed.

"It's really good. I think his mentality and obviously native English speaking, it fits him really well. We've always had sprinters on the team, but we've clicked really well straight off the bat. To get that first win, it's a big tick. Now we can just progress," Swift said.

He acknowledged the fierce level of competition in modern sprinting, and that Ineos doesn't always commit fully to sprint finishes. 

"The sprints are hard now. There's a lot of good sprinters. And we haven’t always got the best lead out train because we've always got other ambitions. But we can be confident when we do get a team together to focus on a sprint that we've got a world-class sprinter behind us."

Before the breakthrough on stage 3, Swift felt they had already shown the speed was there.

"Even stage one, we were super close. It was just racing, minimal marginal gains that we kind of missed there. He showed that he was quite clearly the fastest there and it was just a racing thing. But it's a massive confidence boost. It lifts everybody back in Europe as well. Going forwards, you know that if we're going to do the work, somebody's going to finish it off."