Coach praises cyclist Rodman

MARLOE Rodman's cycling success this year been nothing short of remarkable. The 27-year-old won the Longsjo Classic in New York in June, and the Tobago International Cycling Classic Championship in Trinidad and Caribbean Road Championships in Barbados earlier this month.

However, Rodman's coach, Carlton Simmonds, said the cyclist's dream of representing Jamaica at the Olympics has been severely hampered by the lack of qualification tournaments in the region.

Despite the shortage of qualification races, he believes Rodman can go to the World Championship (which is automatic qualification for the Olympics) as a wild card next year.

"The talent he has is enormous and we hope he can take it to the next level and the Olympics which is the ultimate," Simmonds told STAR Sports.

"It (Olympics) is still a challenge for us, and the lack of enough qualification events this year was the problem, now what we are hoping for is a wild card situation to the world cup.

This was only the second time that Jamaica was winning the championship and Simmonds said it should give the administration a boost and create renewed interest in local cycling.

"We are the top country where road racing is concerned. The course was a very hard based on the information we got. A lot of these guys ply their trade in Europe so the level was a little bit higher but Marloe had an all round preparation, he was well conditioned for it," he said.

"(Marloe) has improved day by day and he wants to get stronger, he is very dedicated and easy to work with. He is very motivated that sometimes I have to tell him to tone down a bit, because for him it's just work, work," he said.