Ireland will have fewer riders than hoped for in the men's road events at the Rio Olympics in August.
The UCI has published the allocations for the men's road events at the Olympics in Rio and Ireland has emerged with fewer places than hoped for.
The men's team has two berths in the road race, as expected, but no riders in the 40-man time trial (TT) field.
While it was clear from the qualification process that Ireland had secured two spots in the road race, the qualification process for the TT was not as clear.
However, it was hoped it would just about go in Ireland's favour and that one place would be secured. But this has not come to pass.
Had Ireland secured a place in the race against the clock; as a world class TT rider Ryan Mullen (Cannondale) would have been in with a very strong chance of being picked.
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If so, he would have also ridden the road race in support of whoever had been selected for the hilly road race event.
However, because filling a TT place with a rider required to also ride the road race is no longer an issue, the selection process is now wide open to a much larger group of riders.
They include the WorldTour men Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan of Team Sky, Dan Martin now of Etixx-QuickStep and Matt Brammeier of Dimension data.
Dunbar has already ridden the European Games as an elite rider, could he be an outside bet for Rio?
Sam Bennett of Bora Argon 18 may have qualified Ireland for the Games (see below) but the hilly road race course would could against him during the selection process.
And while Eddie Dunbar is riding at Continental level - two tiers below the WorldTour men - he will have more leeway that the others to ride for his own results for his Axeon trade team through the season.
Depending on the eligibility criteria for Rio set down by Cycling Ireland, it is not inconceivable that teenager Dunbar would challenge for selection.
We'll bring you news of Cycling Ireland's eligibility and selection process when we have it.
Related News
While the UCI has published the allocations for the male road events only today, Monday, stickybottle's review of the qualification criteria for the women's road races reveals Ireland has not qualified under that process.
How Olympic qualification works
Those nations filling the top five places in the WorldTour rankings on December 31st qualified five for the Olympic road race.
And the nations filling places 6th through 15th each qualified four places for the Rio road race.
Ireland only finished 20th in the rankings, meaning the WorldTour entry method was out of reach.
However, nations could also qualify through the Continental tours – Asia Tour, Oceania Tour, Africa Tour, Europe Tour and America Tour.
In each of those tours, those nations finishing in the top 5 could qualify up to three riders.
With very few Irish riders competing in races outside Europe, Ireland was never going to be in the top give nations of any of the Continental tours apart from Europe.
And in Europe, the exploits of Sam Bennett of Bora-Argon 18 put Ireland into the frame for Rio.
In the EuropeTour, those nations finishing in the top six places each qualify three riders for Rio and those finishing in places 7th through 16th qualify two places.
Ireland finished in 22nd place on the Europe Tour.
However, eleven nations who finished ahead of us had already qualified either four or five riders for Rio via the World Tour.
They were Italy, Belgium, France, Spain, Netherlands, Slovenia, Norway, Poland, Great Britain, Czech Republic and Germany.
And when those 11 nations were stripped out of the Europe Tour end of year nations classification, Ireland was bumped up to 11th place, which qualified us two places for the road race in Rio.
It was thought the qualification system for the TT would similarly deliver Ireland one place in the race against the clock.
But that was less certain and now it has emerged Ireland has not qualified to take part in the time trial.
Men's road allocation for Rio Olympics
| Country | Road Race | Time Trial | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 5 | 1 | |
| Colombia | 5 | 1 | |
| Great Britain | 5 | 1 | |
| Italy | 5 | 2 | |
| Spain | 5 | 2 | |
| Australia | 4 | 2 | |
| Czech Republic | 4 | 2 | |
| France | 4 | 2 | |
| Germany | 4 | 2 | |
| Netherlands | 4 | 2 | |
| Norway | 4 | 1 | |
| Poland | 4 | 1 | |
| Portugal | 4 | 2 | |
| Slovenia | 4 | 1 | |
| Switzerland | 4 | 1 | |
| Argentina | 3 | 1 | |
| Canada | 3 | 1 | |
| Denmark | 3 | 1 | |
| Islamic Republic of Iran | 3 | 1 | |
| Morocco | 3 | 1 | |
| Russian Federation | 3 | 1 | |
| Ukraine | 3 | 1 | |
| Algeria | 2 | 1 | |
| Austria | 2 | 1 | |
| Belarus | 2 | 2 | |
| Brazil | 2 | ||
| Croatia | 2 | ||
| Estonia | 2 | ||
| Ireland | 2 | ||
| Japan | 2 | ||
| Kazakhstan | 2 | 1 | |
| Korea | 2 | ||
| Latvia | 2 | ||
| Lithuania | 2 | ||
| New Zealand | 2 | 1 | |
| South Africa | 2 | ||
| Sweden | 2 | ||
| Turkey | 2 | 1 | |
| United States Of America | 2 | 2 | |
| Venezuela | 2 | 1 | |
| Azerbaijan | 1 | ||
| Bulgaria | 1 | ||
| Chile | 1 | ||
| Costa Rica | 1 | ||
| Dominican Republic | 1 | ||
| Ecuador | 1 | ||
| Eritrea | 1 | ||
| Ethiopia | 1 | ||
| Greece | 1 | ||
| Guatemala | 1 | ||
| Hong Kong, China | 1 | ||
| Luxembourg | 1 | ||
| Mexico | 1 | ||
| Namibia | 1 | ||
| Puerto Rico | 1 | ||
| Romania | 1 | ||
| Rwanda | 1 | ||
| Serbia | 1 | ||
| Slovakia | 1 | ||
| Tunisia | 1 | ||
| United Arab Emirates | 1 |
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