Hayden Roulston

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Hayden Roulston
Personal information
Full name Hayden Roulston
Born 10 January 1981 (1981-01-10) (age 31)
Ashburton, New Zealand
Height 6'1" (1.86 M)
Weight 183 lbs (83 kg)
Team information
Current team RadioShack-Nissan-Trek
Discipline Road and track
Role Rider
Rider type Sprinter/Leadout
Professional team(s)
2002–2004
2005
2006
2009
2010–2011
2012–
Cofidis
Discovery Channel
Health Net-Maxxis
Cervélo TestTeam
Team HTC-Columbia
RadioShack-Nissan-Trek
Major wins
Vuelta a España, 1 Stage TTT
Tour de Pologne, 1 Stage
MaillotNuevaZelanda.PNG National Road Race Champion (2006, 2011)
Jersey yellow.svg Tour of Southland (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010)
Infobox last updated on
17 January 2012

Hayden Roulston, MNZM (born 10 January 1981 in Ashburton) is a New Zealand professional racing cyclist for UCI ProTour team RadioShack-Nissan-Trek.[1] 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.[2]

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 HealthNet 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.[3]

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 & 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 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.[citation needed] 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 4000 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 team, although he did not race in the qualifying rounds.[4] He came 10th in the Madison with his team mate Greg Henderson.[5]

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 Tour of California 2009 Roulston began a perfectly executed lead out to allow team sprinter Thor Hushovd to win Stage 3.[6] In stage 7 Roulston almost won the stage himself after breaking free from a ten man breakaway that included Frank Schleck, George Hincapie and Christian VandeVelde. Roulston was 2nd after a photo finish with Rinaldo Nocentini.[7] Roulston finished 35th overall.

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

[edit] Career highlights

2002
1st Team Pursuit Sydney
1st Madison Sydney
2nd Overall Tour of Wellington
1st Stage 2
2nd Individual Pursuit, Sydney
3rd Bronze medal blank.svg Commonwealth Games, Team Pursuit
2003
1st Stage 7 Tour de Pologne
2nd Silver medal blank.svg World Madison Championship (with Gregory Henderson)
2nd Overall Tour de Vineyards
1st Stage 2
1st Stage 3
2004
1st Stage 1 Tour de Wallonie
1st Stage 3 Tour of Southland
2nd Tour du Doubs
3rd National Road Race Championship
2006
1st MaillotNuevaZelanda.PNG National Road Race Champion
1st MaillotNuevaZelanda.PNG Pursuit Champion
1st MaillotNuevaZelanda.PNG Team Pursuit Champion
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Tour of Wellington
1st Stage 3
1st Stage 5
1st Stage 6
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Tour of Southland
1st Stage 1
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Tour de Vineyards
1st Stage 1
1st Stage 2
1st Stage 3
1st Stage 2 McLane Pacific Classic
2nd Silver medal blank.svg Commonwealth Games, Points race
2007
1st Oceania Madison Cycling Champion
1st Oceania Road Race Cycling Champion
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Tour of Wellington
1st Stage 1
1st Stage 4
1st Stage 6
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Tour of Southland
1st Pegasus Subway Classic
2008
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Tour of Southland
1st Stage 4 Tour of Wellington
1st Stage 6 Tour of Wellington
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Tour des Deux Sevres
1st Prologue
3rd Overall Tour de Vineyards
1st Stages 2
1st Stages 3
2nd Silver medal.svg Olympic Games, 4000 m men's indiviual pursuit
3rd Bronze medal.svg Olympic Games, Team pursuit
2009
2nd Stage 7 Tour of California
3rd Stage 14 Tour de France
2010
1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall, Tour of Southland
1st Stage 1 TTT Vuelta a España
1st Stage 6 Tour of Denmark
2nd Silver medal blank.svg Commonwealth Games, 168 km men's Road Race
4th Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne
10th Paris–Roubaix
2011
1st MaillotNuevaZelanda.PNG National Road Race Champion

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[edit] External links

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