I saw this article at Velonews yesterday that said that the United States gets to start only 2 riders in the Olympic Road Race at Rio this year. That is out of a potential 5 rider roster.
I’m not sure if there is someone to blame here for this, but there needs to be someone responsible to look out for the qualification procedure and make sure that the United States is doing everything in its power to qualify as many riders as possible for the Olympics.
I guess that task would probably fall on the USAC’s shoulders. Obviously no one was too concerned because of the result.
This is really a total embarrassment for our country. Canada, Iran and even Morocco get 3 riders. Tell me that there are better cyclists from Iran and Morocco than from the United States. Can you name one rider from Iran or Morocco? I can’t.
Whatever the reason, it is too late for this Olympics. So we have 4 years to figure out the qualification procedure and make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Considering that Belgium is roughly the size of Massachusetts, why do they get FIVE riders?
Because ‘Murica hates bikes compared to Belgium…
Geographic size, population are irrelevant… all based on UCI rankings.
American didn’t go to PAN-AM champ and south America which a lot of points are available. Also, a lot of the US team leaders are not American. American teams are focus on California/Utah/Colorado and haven’t been doing great too this year.
Sad! Good luck with any team tactics.
You give them to much credit. You actually think they have any plan? Fleecing it members and lining their own pockets seems to be the primary plan. I guess they must have spent all resources on getting the riders over to cross worlds. No?! Drug testing ?!development programs?!
Olympics is long past its sell by date.
They got what they deserve.
UCI Ranking
Country
USA 18th
Individual Rank
Tejay 49th
Talansky 70th
Boswell 173rd
They take 144 in the race.
2015 UCI standings
http://www.uci.html.infostradasports.com/download/UCIWorldTourRanking_s488.pdf?SportID=102&PhaseID=1186672
Like Lumpy said, sending a men’s team of 5 or 4 riders to Rio is tied to a country earning a top-15 nation ranking for the 2015 World Tour. Basically, the USA picked the wrong year to have a weak performance on the World Tour with an 18th place finish for 2015. Since the US missed the top 15 there, our allotment came down to the 2015 UCI Americas Tour ranking. Based on World Tour rankings for 2014 or 2013 the USA would have earned a 4-rider men’s team.
Wampum Vino Style
Tough for USA road racing.
Hooray for CX. Where riders require crowdfunding to attend Worlds after being selected.
Iran got 2 too. Interesting
Actually Iran go 3 which is even more interesting, considering…
… and how come Slovenia gets 4 while Slovakia with the current World Champion only gets the World Champion!!!? What kind of drugs are these guys taking?
At least Pat McQuaid was the enemy we “knew”.
I really like how the ads are telling me I can meet fine looking Russian women to fall in love with! Who knew?! Thanks internet!
Seriously, Steve- anyway you can filter that spammy misogynist crap out?
Agreed.
Olympics and cycling are a hypocrisy / fraudulence double dip. Trumped only by FIFA.
Don’t forget Tommy D and his two UCI points!
you;re off the back with continental racing if you’re not familiar with the Iranians. they’ve been kicking the sh*t out of us in uci .1 and.2 races for nearly a decade
…Because Belgium has, I don’t know, 20? riders more worthy of riding in a World Championship than the USA?
Seems unfair based solely on numbers, but realistically, is there an American rider with even the slightest chance of a medal? If so, who? Tejay? Please.
Cross worlds is “pay to play.” You qualify on your dime, then pay USACDF for the privilege of attending.
Where the money vanishes once it hits USACDF is an interesting question.
Send Chris Horner!
They’ll send Taylor and Tejay. You know it. I know it.
So when you purchase a USAC licence, what exactly are you buying? It was explained to me once that the USAC’s leverage over regional organizations was Olympic selection, but with this situation, the USAC seems increasingly irrelevant.
As a Norcal masters racer, I have no use for the USAC except that if I want to race, I have to pay them off. I’d rather my $80 go to an electronic timing system for our local events. I’m not cool with buying airplane tickets so that USAC goons can travel to Europe and kid themselves they are important.
Last year USAC raised the license price, but said it was offset by that fact that it also included an off road licence. OK, sounds good as I like to race XC too. So I open the NCNCA calendar and low and behold there is exactly ONE USAC XC race on the NCNCA calendar: the Sea Otter. What a scam.
Almost all rider development is off road/ high school, and the USAC is totally absent in this arena. I wouldn’t mind making a forced donation to the kids, but this isn’t the case either.
Promoters get their insurance from USAC because USAC riders show up to race.
The next step is to get your USAC-holding friends together and agree that you will all show up for a series of events that are not USA Cycling sanctioned. How about NABRA?
It’s easy for the promoter, they just contact NABRA http://nabracing.net/ where they can get their event insurance.
The sooner you and your buddies stop feeding USAC, the better for everyone.
Current NABRA site: http://www.nabra.us/contact/
As do the DH racers because USAC is too busy putting on ‘training camps’ for obsolete pursuits and dead disciplines.
“The sooner you and your buddies stop feeding USAC, the better for everyone.”
Yes and no. Not necessarily better for me as I’m looking forward to the coming racing season, and if I don’t buy a license, I’m protesting to little effect, and not racing. So soon I will quit dragging my feet and send the USAC their payola again.