Cycling has been a part of every modern Olympics and has included women’s cycling since 1984. The program has been constantly changing, but all 18 events held in London are being held again this time. Of the current events only men’s team pursuit, men’s/women’s individual sprint, and men’s/women’s individual road race have histories at the Olympics stretching earlier than Atlanta. With the variety of events in the cycling category there are four venues for the Olympic events. Fort Copacabana, a military base, will be the focal point of the road cycling roads race but the time trial will not be held there instead the Pontal, an area along the coast in the western part of Rio near the Barra region will host those events. The Rio Olympic Velodrome, built pre-Olympics in 2005, in the Barra area will host the track events. In the Deodoro zone the newly constructed Olympic BMX Center will host, you guessed it, the BMX events while the Mountain Bike Centre will host the mountain bike events. The US qualified for the men’s road events via the UCI America Tour while the women were in the top five of the UCI World Rankings in 2015 to qualify four spots. All of the track spots the US qualified were via rankings based on performances over the last three years with similar criteria qualifying the mountain bike and BMX spots.
The Team:
This year’s team is made up of eight men and 13 women. Ten of the 21 have Olympic experience with four going to their third straight Olympics. Kristin Armstrong is the veteran of the group at 42 while Chloe Tygert is just 19.
Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.
USA Cycling
Men:
Connor Fields* – BMX
Nicholas Long* – BMX
Corben Sharrah – BMX
Howard Grotts – Mountain Biking – Cross-country
Brent Bookwalter – Road – Road race and time trial
Taylor Phinney** – Road – Road race and time trial
Matt Baranoski – Track – Keirin
Bobby Lea** – Track – Omnium
Women:
Brooke Crain* – BMX
Alise Post* – BMX
Lea Davison* – Mountain Biking – Cross-Country
Chloe Woodruff – Mountain Biking – Cross-Country
Mara Abbott – Road – Road race
Kristin Armstrong*** – Road – Road race and time trial
Megan Guarnier – Road – Road race
Evelyn Stevens* – Road – Road race and time trial
Kelly Catlin – Track – Team pursuit
Chloe Dygert – Track – Team pursuit
Sarah Hammer** – Track – Team pursuit and omnium
Jennifer Valente – Track – Team pursuit
Ruth Winder – Track – Team pursuit
* – Was part of the team in 2012 – London
** – Was part of the team in 2012 and 2008 (Beijing)
*** – Was part of the team in 2012, 2008, and 2004 (Athens)
Format:
Some of the events are simple… like the road race and time trial as well as the cross-country race, all are just fastest wins. In some time is mostly irrelevant, like the BMX events where other than the seeding run the rest of the event is top riders advance and losers are out. In women’s team pursuit there will be a qualification round to narrow it down to eight for the first round. The top two in the first round will face off for gold with third and fourth meeting for bronze. In the men’s keirin the first round and the subsequent repechages will narrow the field for the first round. Only the top six in the first round (three from each heat) will move into the final. The men’s and women’s omniums are the cycling equivalent of the heptathlon with six individual events contributing to an overall score.
Schedule:
All Times ET
Saturday, August 6th
8:30 AM – Road – Men’s Road Race
Sunday, August 7th
11:15 AM – Road – Women’s Road Race
Wednesday, August 10th
7:30 AM – Road – Women’s Time Trial
9 AM – Road – Women’s Time Trial
Thursday, August 11th
3:10 PM – Track – Women’s Team Pursuit – Qualification
Saturday, August 13th
10:17 AM – Track – Women’s Team Pursuit – Round 1
3:53 PM – Track – Women’s Team Pursuit – Finals
Sunday, August 14th
3:40 PM – Track – Men’s Omnium – Flying Lap 250m Time Trial
4:50 PM – Track – Men’s Omnium – Individual Pursuit
6:15 PM – Track – Men’s Omnium – Elimination Race
Monday, August 15th
9:21 AM – Track – Men’s Omnium – 1km Time Trial
9:59 AM – Track – Women’s Omnium – Flying Lap 250m Time Trial
3 PM – Track – Men’s Omnium – Flying Lap
3:30 PM – Track – Women’s Omnium – Individual Pursuit
4:23 PM – Track – Men’s Omnium – Points Race
5:17 PM – Track – Women’s Omnium – Elimination Race
Tuesday, August 16th
9:18 AM – Track – Men’s Keirin – Round 1
9:57 AM – Track – Women’s Omnium – 500m Time Trial
10:25 AM – Track – Men’s Keirin – Round 1 Repechages
3:10 PM – Track – Women’s Omnium – Flying Lap
3:46 PM – Track – Men’s Keirin – Round 2
4:05 PM – Track – Women’s Omnium – Points Race
5:14 PM – Track – Men’s Keirin – Finals
Wednesday, August 17th
12:30 PM – Women’s BMX – Seeding Run
1:34 PM – Men’s BMX – Seeding Run
Thursday, August 18th
12:30 PM – Men’s BMX – Quarterfinals
Friday, August 19th
12:30 PM – Women’s BMX – Semifinals
12:38 PM – Men’s BMX – Semifinals
2 PM – Women’s BMX – Final
2:10 PM – Men’s BMX – Final
Saturday, August 20th
11:30 AM – Women’s Mountain Bike – Cross-Country Race
Sunday, August 21st
11:30 AM – Men’s Mountain Bike – Cross-Country Race
Past Results:
France is the all-time leader in cycling medals with 89, but the US is 4th with 52, including 14 golds. The US won gold in the women’s time trial, silver in the women’s team pursuit and the women’s omnium, and bronze in the women’s cross-country in London. Armstrong now has two golds from the last two Olympics while Sarah Hammer won two silvers in London.