Great Britain go into the 2024 Olympic Games trying to uphold their standing because the preeminent monitor biking nation of the twenty first century, having topped the medal desk at each Olympics since their ground-breaking show in Beijing in 2008.
Britain as a sporting nation had a middling Olympic pedigree till that time however a revolution within the funding system has heralded a gold rush, with GB ending no decrease than fourth within the total medal desk from Beijing onwards. Cycling has been a central a part of that period, and specifically monitor biking, which presents a bunch of occasions – and subsequently medals – and the form of atmosphere the place tools counts for lots and the cash could possibly be used to win the technological arms race. They’ve additionally tasted success previously 4 Games in highway biking, mountain bike, and BMX, albeit extra sporadically.
Given their potential throughout all these disciplines, Great Britain are the favourites to prime the biking medal desk as soon as once more. However, they’ll face a more durable problem than they’ve in a protracted whereas. The Tokyo Olympics in 2021 noticed a narrowing of the hole, and the sensation is that different nations have steadily been catching up in that arms race, similtaneously lots of the celebrities from the British Cycling golden age have moved on, and that’s with out mentioning the freak gardening accident that has robbed them of their finest monitor rider for Paris.
Here, we delve somewhat deeper into Great Britain’s medal prospects for the Paris Olympics.
Track
Katie Archibald was the sufferer of that freak accident, tripping over a step in her backyard and struggling a double leg break and torn ligaments. The Scot would have competed within the Omnium, Madison, and Team Pursuit, three disciplines through which she has beforehand been world champion. She gained Olympic gold within the Team Pursuit in Rio in 2016 and the Madison in 2021, and was set to emerge from the shadow of the good Laura Kenny to take intention on the Omnium in Paris. With a slew of medals throughout main competitions in recent times, Archibald has turn into arguably the world’s finest endurance monitor rider and there aren’t any two methods about it, her absence is an absolute hammer blow for GB.
Still, there’s a rising star who could possibly be a family title by the tip of the summer season. Emma Finucane is barely 21 years of age however has burst onto the scene previously couple of years, to the purpose the place she gained the Individual Sprint world title final autumn and added the European title in January. That’ll be her massive goal right here however she’ll additionally line up within the Keirin. She’s younger however seems mature sufficient to deal with this subsequent step, and there’s an actual buzz round her heading into Paris.
Finucane has breathed life right into a ladies’s dash set-up that has by no means had the success of their ladies’s endurance or males’s dash counterparts. GB have certified for the Team Sprint in Paris for the primary time since 2012, the failure forward of Rio 2016 inflicting large controversy and main Katy Marchant to lash out at British Cycling administration. Marchant returns for her third Olympics, as a mom and having acknowledged the tradition change within the federation in recent times, whereas the dash division is rounded out by 25-year-old Sophie Capewell. Finucane and Capewell had been within the trio that took silver eventually 12 months’s Worlds, whereas Marchant joined on the Nations Cup in February to say the primary ladies’s workforce dash gold in any competitors since 2012. A medal would be the intention in Paris, and there’s no purpose it may possibly’t be gold.
As for the way the ladies’s endurance squad is shaping up with out Archibald, the most important title is that of Elinor Barker, who, like Marchant, is returning as a mom for her third Games. Barker was a part of the all-conquering Team Pursuit squad of outdated and in addition has world titles to her title within the Points Race, Scratch Race, and Madison. Barker seems to be set to switch Archibald within the Omnium whereas discovering a brand new Madison accomplice in Neah Evans, though the pair have already teamed up on the European Championships. Both occasions signify medal alternatives even when gold is now much less probably. The identical could be mentioned for the Team Pursuit. Josie Knight is the opposite acquainted member of the quartet, whereas Anna Morris and Jess Roberts make their Olympic debuts, however Archibald is nearly as good as irreplaceable.
On the boys’s facet, the Team Pursuit is an enormous medal goal and shall be one of the vital hotly-anticipated occasions of the whole Games. Propelled by Dan Bigham, who has had a string of controversies with British Cycling and labored behind the scenes for Denmark on the final Games, the group have breathed new life into an occasion the place GB had slipped from their perch. WorldTour execs Ethan Vernon and Ethan Hayter are among the many squad, together with an outdated Bigham ally in Charlie Tanfield and Ollie Wood. They clinched the world title on the 2022 World Championships, and though a crash wrecked their title defence, they claimed European gold with a time three seconds off the world document. What makes GB’s medal prospects unsure, and the occasion so thrilling, is the extent of competitors, with Bigham’s former employers Denmark and Olympic champions Italy each concerned in a contest that would come all the way down to the wire.
Hayter has misplaced his means somewhat on the highway with Ineos Grenadiers however seems at his pure finest on the monitor. He’ll be within the hunt for gold within the Omnium, having turn into the European champion in January, and can hyperlink up with Ollie Wood in a harmful pairing for the Madison.
In the sprinting division, as soon as dominated by a few of Britain’s most adorned Olympians in Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny, there are extra muted expectations.
Tokyo silver and bronze medallist Jack Carlin leads the road alongside two debutants in Hamish Turnbull and Ed Lowe. As a lot as something, it’s the competitors that counts towards them. Harrie Lavreysen has established himself because the thunder-thighed sprinting king and is the runaway favorite within the Individual Sprint and Keirin. Likewise, his Dutch squad, together with the Australians, are anticipated to dominate the Team Sprint occasion. The backside steps of the dash podiums do look extra open, so a medal shouldn’t be out of the query if GB’s riders get every little thing proper on the day.
Despite the inexperience, they do have an ace within the pack in that they’re being coached by Jason Kenny, who managed to dismantle Lavreysen within the Keirin in Tokyo to turn into Britain’s most adorned Olympian.
Road
On the highway, Britain have by no means hit the identical heights because the monitor, which is probably unsurprising given the relative paucity of medals on supply and the overwhelming vary of candidates for them. Nicole Cooke from 2008 is Britain’s solely highway race champion and Bradley Wiggins from 2012 the one time trial champion. Medals have been briefly provide ever since.
In Paris, the most important gold medal prospect on the highway is definitely Josh Tarling within the males’s particular person time trial. The Welshman is barely 20 however has had a rare debut two seasons as knowledgeable, taking bronze on the World Championships final 12 months and taking the European title quickly after. Earlier this 12 months the Belgian star Wout van Aert was requested who one of the best time triallist on this planet was. “For now, Evenepoel, however quickly, Tarling,” he mentioned. This could possibly be his second. The flat course in Paris fits him completely, though the identical is true of the Hour Record holder Filippo Ganna, who might need a factor or two to say about Van Aert’s feedback. Ethan Hayter additionally strains up for GB and has the calibre for a powerful consequence however Tarling is the medal contender and a few would say the favorite for gold.
As for the boys’s highway race, it’s way more of a lottery however in Tom Pidcock GB have a rider suited to the course and to the event, even when his early exit from the Tour de France with COVID-19 has left a query mark over his preparation. Pidcock impressed from his debut in an elite World Champs as a 21-year-old and GB’s finest finisher in Imola in 2020. He has since added Strade Bianche and Amstel Gold Race to a palmarès that’s nonetheless being constructed along with different disciplines. In truth, Pidcock can be the reigning Olympic champion in mountain bike and shall be out to defend that title 5 days earlier than the highway race. Fred Wright is a confirmed Tour of Flanders top-10 rider, Stevie Williams gained Flèche Wallonne this spring, and Tarling can by no means be underestimated as he doubles up with the TT, however it’s Pidcock who’s realistically GB’s main mild right here. You by no means know fairly what you’re going to get with the Yorkshireman, however when he strikes, he strikes massive.
On the ladies’s facet, Lizzie Deignan is Britain’s massive title, a former world champion, main Classics champion, and Olympic silver medallist from 2012. She’s now 35 and hasn’t gained a race since she landed the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes in 2021, though she has at all times stepped as much as the plate in worldwide occasions, as lately as final 12 months’s Worlds, the place she was sixth.
Deignan would possibly properly injure one thing but when represents extra of the previous, then the longer term seems to belong to Pfeiffer Georgi. The 23-year-old has actually began to hit her stride now and nonetheless has baggage of potential to discover. She retained her British nationwide champion’s jersey final month, in a season through which she made a Classics breakthrough with a podium at Paris-Roubaix. She’d want the Olympics course to be somewhat flatter however then once more she was additionally fourth in Amstel Gold this 12 months.
Anna Henderson, the aerodynamic Visma-Lease a Bike rider, represents GB within the time trial, doubling up with the highway race. She was fourth eventually 12 months’s Worlds TT and second on the European Championships. Given the sheer depth of competitors, a medal shall be a tall order however she’ll wish to be knocking on the door.
Mountain bike
Mountain biking was solely added to the Olympic programme in 1996, with simply the Cross-Country self-discipline included. Britain had by no means gained a medal till Tom Pidcock turned up in Tokyo and stormed off with gold, considered one of a variety of breakthrough moments in his nascent profession.
Pidcock shall be out to defend his title and would be the favorite for the gold medal in Paris. The 24-year-old’s efforts on the highway and in cyclo-cross haven’t dampened his mountain biking abilities – actually, he has mentioned he was ‘born to mountain bike – and he has dipped on this season to take some commanding wins, notably at Nove Mesto and Crans Montana. The legendary Nino Schurter, veteran of 4 Olympics and winner of 1, shall be among the many contenders, as will his compatriot Mathias Flückiger, however Pidcock on track has the beating of each.
Pidcock shall be joined within the males’s race by rising star Charlie Aldridge. A former world champion at junior and U23 degree, he has solely stepped as much as the elites this season however positioned an eye catching fourth in Nove Mesto, which truly earned GB their second spot for Paris. There’ll be no expectations, however greater than somewhat pleasure over what he might obtain.
GB have additionally certified two riders for the ladies’s race, making a full complement for the primary time since Sydney in 2000. Evie Richards, who was seventh in Tokyo three years in the past earlier than taking the world title, will lead the road however faces query marks over her type. She has had a season disrupted by harm, notably a concussion within the spring, and though hopes had been raised by latest outcomes – a podium in Crans Montana and sixth in Les Gets – she stays an outsider for a medal.
As within the males’s race, the established campaigner shall be joined by a rising star, within the type of Ella Maclean-Howell, who has obtained the nod for the second spot regardless of being simply 19 years of age.
BMX
The BMX was one of many feel-good areas for British Cycling in Toyko. Beth Shriever stormed to a surprising gold medal and her celebrations with Kye Whyte, who gained a silver medal, will dwell lengthy within the reminiscence. Together, they grew to become GB’s first ever Olympics BMX medallists, considerably regardless of the system, which noticed funding cuts that controversially had been heaviest for the feminine riders.
Shriever and Whyte return to signify GB in Paris within the sole spots for the ladies’s and males’s BMX Racing occasions. Soon after that golden day in Tokyo, Shriever grew to become the world champion, a title she reclaimed final autumn, confirming her standing on the prime of the game. She suffered a collarbone fracture in May however says that gained’t have an effect on her in Paris, having additionally dislocated a shoulder within the run-up to Tokyo. Now a fully-funded skilled BMX rider, a second Olympic title would cement her greatness.
As for Whyte, he gained his first World Cup occasion in February and even when he hasn’t had a very sturdy or constant marketing campaign since then, he’ll really feel he’s able to pulling one thing out of the bag on the day. After all, there’s a way of unfinished enterprise; he gained silver as a 21-year-old in Tokyo, however felt it might and maybe ought to have been gold.
There’s additionally a Freestyle BMX self-discipline, which made its Olympic debut in Tokyo, and the place GB might buttress their medal tally. Charlotte Worthington gained the gold three years in the past when she grew to become the first-ever lady to land a 360 backflip. She has admitted to struggling to adapt to that stardom, whereas the competitors has turn into extra intense, which is why expectations are somewhat extra muted this trip.
Kieran Reilly is the boys’s Freestyle rider, who has sturdy credentials after turning into World and European Champion final 12 months. He wasn’t so dominant in qualifying, and Logan Martin stays the rider to beat, however he’ll be within the hunt for a medal.