Dan Martin & Nicolas Roche at Stage 17, Vuelta 2011
The three-man team to represent Ireland in the road race at the London Olympics has been confirmed this evening, Friday, as Dan Martin, Nicolas Roche and David McCann.
It will be Martin’s first Olympics, Roche’s second and McCann’s third. The latter is also expected to take Ireland’s sole place in the Olympic time trial.
Earlier today stickybottle broke the news that the official announcement of the team, which was due this morning, had been delayed because one rider who had not been picked was appealing.
Cycling Ireland said it needed to wait until that appeals process ran its course before the team could be confirmed. However, the names have now emerged.
The news means there is no room in the London team for one of Irish cycling’s young guns, Sam Bennett.
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The An Post-Sean Kelly rider had been tipped by some to be selected for London and had scored more performance-based qualification points since the start of the season than both McCann and Roche under one section of the criteria set out by Cycling Ireland.
However, he is not as experienced as the other two and while he has donned the Irish jersey on a large number of occasions that has mainly been at U23 level.
Martin and Roche are riding at the highest, ProTour, level in the sport and most observers expected them to be included in the team for London.
McCann is riding at the same UCI Continental level as Bennett, though the latter scored 55 points under Cycling Ireland’s performance-based criteria against McCann’s 41 points.
However, McCann was perhaps the strongest Irish rider in the Ras this year; arguably along with Connor McConvey (An Post-Sean Kelly). And that continued strength two decades into his senior career has seen him selected for his third Games.
Bennett has been named as first reserve for the team for London and at least has the consolation of having time on his side to get to the Olympics in the years ahead.
The line-up for London was finalised on Monday, when a three-man selection panel met to award points to each of the seven eligible riders.
The selection panel’s points tally for each rider was then added to any points each rider had scored themselves since the start of the season under the results-based scoring system run by Cycling Ireland.
The three riders with the highest combined points tally were picked on the team.
The selection panel had a potential 100 points to award to each rider, with points allocated based on each riders’ suitability for the London road race course and their ability to perform in that race
The Olympic selection panel consisted of An Post Ras organiser Dermot Dignam, UCI international commissaire Paul Watson and lecturer in Sport & Exercise Physiology at DCU, Dr Giles Warrington. Geoff Liffey, CEO of Cycling Ireland, acted as chairperson of the selection panel.
How the selectors allocated their points was absolutely crucial because three riders were quite close on points under Cycling Ireland’s results based system.
Martin (Garmin Barracuda) had the most points by far under the results-based system, with 81 points. That meant his place on the team was assured.
However, Roche (Ag2r), McCann (RTS Racing) and Bennett (An Post-Sean Kelly) were all close to each other.
Bennett had 55 points, McCann 41 and Roche 32.
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Other riders eligible for selection were: Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Philip Deignan (Unitedhealthcare) and Adam Armstrong (Eurocycles).
All seven riders named above had met the main criteria to be eligible for selection; they had all scored UCI points since the beginning of last year.
However, Brammeier and Deignan had scored no points under the separate Cycling Ireland scoring system while Armstrong had scored just 13 points under the association’s system, for his third place on a stage in the Ras last month.
Brammeier now clearly feels aggrieved at his non selection and last night submitted his appeal. He is being represented in the appeals process by UCI registered cycling agent Andrew McQuaid.
National road race and TT champion, Brammeier has emerged as a key rider for his team in support of the bigger names in the squad such as Tom Boonen.
However, the weighting of the criteria towards top ten finishes under Cycling Ireland’s points scoring system meant Brammeier was always going to be on the back foot by virtue of the mainly support role he plays.
He will undoubtedly now argue that his riding as a support athlete – with the ability to win races himself when the opportunity presents - for one of the biggest teams in the world makes him an ideal candidate to be selected for London.
However, it appears any appeal would only succeed if a rider could prove that the selection criteria were not followed.
Brammeier’s appeal must be heard by the five-person appeals panel by Sunday.
The appeals panel is: cyclist and lawyer Aideen Collard, Swim Ireland’s high performance director Shane Keane, Richard Archbold of the Sport Institute of Northern Ireland, Cycling Ireland board member Anthony Moran and Anthony Walsh, a cyclist who has a Masters in Sports Law.
Stickybottle had earlier this week established the identity of the selected riders from sources within the cycling community, though Cycling Ireland made no comment.
However, we decided to hold off on naming the riders until Cycling Ireland had announced the team. We wanted to respect the privacy of those riders not selected who might wish to appeal and not be named while that process was still ongoing.
However, the identity of the three riders selected and of Brammeier as the rider who has launched the appeal had begun to emerge online this evening meaning the reasons for waiting until an official announcement no longer applied.
Brammeier is a member of one of the world’s biggest teams and is using his right of appeal
McCann (left) has not lost his engine and joins a very select club of triple Olympians
Disappointment for Bennett, but he has time on his side
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