Nicolas Roche, Dan Martin and Philip Deignan are some of those in contention to be picked within days on the Irish team for the Rio Olympics.
With Shannon McCurley already booked onto the plane for the Rio Olympics on the track having qualified herself in recent months, there are now just two more cycling berths to fill.
Ireland has no other track riders qualified and no women in the elite road race or TT and there are no MTB riders qualified, male or female.
But we have qualified two places in the men’s 256km road race for what is by all accounts a climbers' race for gold, silver and bronze on Saturday, August 6th, in Brazil.
Given his recent form and the fact he is the only Irish rider currently racing who has won monuments, Dan Martin of Etixx-QuickStep seems sure to be the first name on the team sheet.
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That just leaves one other place to be filled with Team Sky’s Philip Deignan and Nicolas Roche obvious contenders to compete in the green of Ireland alongside Martin.
Others in with a shout include Matt Brammeier (Dimension Data) and Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18), though the hilly course will not be to the liking of either man.
At a push young Eddie Dunbar (Axeon) might fit the bill as he is a very good climber, though this level of racing is not something he has been exposed to just yet.
Four years ago there was a quite a lot of controversy when Brammeier missed out to David McCann, who has since retired.
On that occasion an unpopular qualification process for the Irish riders was put in place by Cycling Ireland.
Some felt it unfairly weighted the process in favour of riders at Continental level who could get placings in smaller racers and that it did not recognise those riding as domestiques at WorldTour level.
Brammeier was very unhappy not to be selected and appealed the final composition of the team, though he was unsuccessful and so McCann was picked with Roche and Martin for London 2012.
The team for Rio will be picked next week, with an announcement expected as early as next Wednesday.
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The selection will be made by a three-man Olympic Games Selection Panel within Cycling Ireland made up of technical director Brian Nugent, performance coach Neil Delahaye and board member John Horgan.
Cycling Ireland chief executive Geoff Liffey will chair the panel, though his role will be to ensure the proper procedures are followed. He is not a selector.
To qualify for selection a rider must – between February 2nd and June 12th, via road races or TTs – have achieved:
- A top 15 position in a World Tour Event 1.UWT or 2.UWT (to include a GC result)
- A top 8 position in a stage of a World Tour Event 2.UWT
- Be listed in the World Tour Rankings
- A top 5 position in a UCI 1.HC Event
- A top 3 position in a UCI 2.HC Event (to include stage finishes and GC result)
- Top 10 in the Europe Tour Rankings as of latest rankings published by the UCI on June 12th
- A member of a World Tour or ProContinental team that has completed a suitable race program in team support role.
After applying those criteria and narrowing down the possible candidates for selection, the selectors will then apply points to each rider based on a number of considerations.
These considerations are subjective, meaning the selectors will apply their opinions’ about the potential candidates and award scores based on those opinions. The considerations to be scored in relation to each rider are:
- Athletes ability to obtain a top 15 position in the chosen event (30 points)
- Proven track record as a world class performer in cycling disciplines of equal standard (20 points)
- Consistency in performances in a team role in previous seasons (20 points)
- Member of a UCI World Tour or Professional Continental team (15 points)
- The suitability of the riders competition programme that enable readiness for the event (15 points)
- Suitability to the Olympic Games course (20 points)
And based on the scores decided by the selectors the team will be picked.
One other consideration that may come into play is whether a rider is interested in going to Rio.
The 256.4km long race on Saturday, August 6th, takes place just two weeks after the Tour de France ends in Paris on July 24th.
Any Irish riders competing in the Tour de France, or planning to start the Vuelta on August 20th, may not want to travel to Brazil.
If any of the riders were to compete in both the Tour and Vuelta, a trip across the globe – even for the Olympics – may prove very unattractive, especially if they felt there was little in it for them from a performance and results perspective.
And if one or two riders were to rule themselves out behind closed doors, any such move could have a major impact on who is eventually selected.
Having said that, it is also possible anyone in contention to be selected will want to travel to the Games.
Stickybottle has no information suggesting otherwise; we're simply exploring one factor not included in the criteria.
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