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A Brief History...
There’s one character trait
road cyclist Nathan O’Neill has in abundance: toughness.
He proved that beyond doubt in 1995 by winning a
silver medal in the road time trial at the Oceania Titles while nursing a broken
pelvis. Throughout his cycling O’Neill has always been a winner. Even at his
first event he came out on top.
At the suggestion of a friend, O’Neill attended
a 16 kilometre handicap race in 1989. The race began at 6:00am before school and
O’Neill won it. Within two years he was winning gold medals at the Australian
Junior Championships, and in 1992 won a bronze medal in the 4,000 metres teams
pursuit at the World Junior Championships.
Health problems forced O’Neill into temporary
retirement in 1993 but he came back the following year to claim the Australian
Road Time Trial gold medal at the national titles in his first year as a senior.
O’Neill also won the mountains classification of the Commonwealth Bank Cycle
Classic in 1994.
He was invited to join the Australian Institute
of Sport road team in 1995 but a series of misfortunes, culminating in his
broken pelvis, made it a forgettable year. O’Neill missed selection for the 1996
Olympics in Atlanta but was added to the Olympic Athletes Program with an eye on
his potential for 2000.
In 1998 O’Neill trained with Australian track
endurance squad in Mexico and joined Australia’s under 26 contingent in Italy
under the guidance of national road coach Shayne Bannan. Despite this, he missed
selection for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
At the beginning of 1999 O’Neill finished second
in the Tour of Tasmania behind compatriot Cadel Evans. Evans, who is in the
mountain bike team for Sydney, was obviously impressed, inviting O’Neill to join
him in America where Evans rides for the Volvo Cannondale team.
O’Neill was a guest rider for the team during
the Redlands Classic and was impressive, riding shotgun for Evans and finishing
seventh overall as well as winning the King of the Mountains classification.
That ride presented O’Neill with a dilemma. He was convinced his future lay in
Europe, but was offered a contract with the American team Mercury.
Eventually he knocked the American deal back,
and his decision proved wise so after when he won a two-year contract with the
Italian Panaria-Gaerne team beginning in January 2000. That offer came after
O’Neill won the time trial stage of the amateur Tour of Italy.
In his first event for his team, the Tour of
Malaysia, O’Neill was fourth in the time trial and helped his team-mate Julio
Perez to the mountains jersey and second place overall. |
