U.S. Olympic road hopefuls awaiting selection to Beijing
- By Neal Rogers
- Published Jun. 19, 2008
- Updated Jun. 20, 2008 at 8:27 AM UTC
Editor’s Note: In an article published June 13th, VeloNews.com incorrectly reported that George Hincapie automatically qualified for the U.S. Olympic team by taking second in the time trial at the 2007 Tour of Benelux. Hincapie did not compete in the 2007 Tour of Benelux, and has not met any automatic nomination criteria under USA Cycling’s Olympic selection procedures. we regret the error and apologize for any confusion. The article has been corrected and is re-published below.
Are you wondering which men and women will represent the U.S. at the Olympic road racing events in Beijing this August? You’re not alone.
With the Olympic road events just eight weeks away, the majority of the riders vying for a spot on USA Cycling’s Olympic squad still don’t know if they will be racing in Beijing or not.
Because of its international rank, the U.S. Olympic road team has earned the maximum number of riders allotted to any country — five men and three women. From those riders, the men’s and women’s teams will each field two riders in the individual time trial.
So far two Americans, Levi Leipheimer and Kristin Armstrong, have already met automatic nomination criteria and are guaranteed Olympic positions.
Leipheimer punched his ticket to Beijing by finishing in the top three overall at last year’s Tour de France, while Armstrong secured a second trip to the Olympics with her silver medal ride in the individual time trial at last year’s world road championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
With the window of competition to make the team either closed or closing, the remaining spots will be decided on using discretionary criteria, such as medal capability, capability to enhance team performance and future medal capability. USA Cycling’s deadline to submit its list of nominated athletes to the U.S. Olympic Committee is July 1. Olympic road events will be held August 9th and 10th (road), and 13th (time trial).
The somewhat ambiguous nature of discretionary selection means many riders, such as Leipheimer’s Astana teammate Chris Horner, simply don’t know whether they will be Olympians or not.
“Nobody has contacted me about the Olympics,” Horner told VeloNews. “I don’t know if they are waiting or if they have made up their minds and I am not on list. I think I should be one of the five guys. In my book, it’s Levi, myself, George Hincapie, Dave Zabriskie, if he’s healthy, and Christian Vande Velde. Those are the five strongest U.S. riders that stand out in my mind.”
Hincapie, ranked 24th on the UCI ProTour rankings updated May 25 after the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, is the only American rider currently carrying ProTour points. He has attended the last four Olympics, dating back the Barcelona Games in 1992.
And though his top results haven’t come at ProTour races, Vande Velde seems to be a shoo-in for selection based on his time trial victory at the Circuit de la Sarthe in April and his third overall finish at the Amgen Tour of California.
Both Zabriskie, who broke a vertebra at the Giro d’Italia, and Horner, who suffered broken ribs at Cataluyna and recently dropped out of the Dauphiné Libéré with a pinched disc, are question marks for Beijing.
Other top Americans that might be considered include 2004 Olympians Jason McCartney and Bobby Julich, who took a bronze medal in Athens in the time trial, as well as Danny Pate, who recently finished sixth on the June 1 final time trial of the Giro d’Italia.
Unlike in 2000 and 2004, there is no Olympic team selection event this year. USA Cycling CEO Steve Johnson, director of athletics Pat McDonough, and director of endurance programs Jim Miller decided on the selection procedures, which were first published on January 10, 2007. Johnson said the decision to forgo an Olympic trial this year “reflects the progression of the sport towards a professional capstone.”
“It’s very tough for top international riders to come back to the U.S. for trials, there are issues related to the conflict with the trials event with the international calendar, there are issues related to travel, there are issues related to peaking for a trials event,” Johnson said.
“In looking at where we wanted to go for 2008 and beyond, we decided to really focus on international performances as the highest priority. And hopefully really provide our top professional athletes the opportunity to just ply their trade and meet the nomination criteria for the team.”
USA Cycling’s Athlete Selection Procedures are available at USACycling.org.
Riders who have been benefited from Olympic trials events in past include Tony Cruz and Nicole Freedman (2000), and McCartney and Armstrong (2004).
Seven American women were named to USA Cycling’s women’s road long team in January. In addition to Armstrong, four of the six — Amber Neben, Tina Mayolo-Pic, Mara Abbott and Christine Thorburn — met automatic nomination criteria. Two discretionary nominations went to Kori Seehafer and Pan Am Games time trial gold medalist Alison Powers based on results throughout the 2007 racing season.
As of June 6, Armstrong was the top ranked American in the UCI’s elite women’s international standings, in sixth, with Neben ninth and Kathyrn Curi-Mattis in 41st. And though Curi-Mattis earned points by winning the season-opening Geelong World Cup in February — a result that would have gained automatic nomination had she won in 2007 — the fact that it occurred in 2008 meant she had already missed out on earning a spot on the women’s Olympic road long team.
USA Cycling’s Athlete Selection Procedures document reads that UCI Calendar International Events are to be considered “Tryout Events,” reading, “Athletes can gain automatic nomination or consideration for the 2008 Olympic team based on their results and/or performance at 2007 and 2008 major UCI calendar events (World Cups and UCI 2.9.1 events.)”
However, those results and/or performances only apply to riders who were named to the women’s Olympic road long team, which was determined as the top-five ranked U.S. eligible riders on the final UCI individual point rankings as of December 31, 2007. In an interview with VeloNews, Curi-Mattis said she was disappointed, adding, “I felt like my results both personally and as a teammate had earned me a spot on that team.”
Abbott, the 22-year-old current national road champion who took second at the Montreal World Cup last year, has not raced a World Cup event this year, leaving her hopes for an Olympic spot in jeopardy. Having taken a bronze medal at the 2006 world time trial championship, Thorburn meets USA Cycling’s first discretionary criteria of medal capability.
However, due to the hilly course profile in Beijing, and because Abbott is a superior climber to either the 42-year-old Mayolo-Pic or the 38-year-old Thorburn, Abbott could get the nod based on the third discretionary criteria — future medal capability.
FILED UNDER: Road
Neal Rogers
An interest in all things rock 'n' roll led Neal into music journalism while attending UC Santa Cruz. After several post-grad years spent waiting tables, surfing and mountain biking, Neal moved to San Francisco, working stints as a bike messenger and at a software start-up. He moved to Colorado in 2001, taking an editorial internship at VeloNews. He never left, and is now Velo's editor in chief. When not traveling the world covering races, Neal can be found riding his bike, skiing, cooking, or attending a concert. Follow him on Twitter at @nealrogers.