The British Olympic Association (BOA) and British Cycling have today confirmed the five men’s road cyclists who will compete for Team GB in the Road Race on the first day of competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games on the 28th July.
This completes the full complement of cyclists selected for Team GB, with a total of 27 across all disciplines.
The cyclists selected for the men’s Road Race are:
Mark Cavendish (age: 27; born: Isle of Man)
Chris Froome (age: 27; born: Nairobi, Kenya)
David Millar (age: 35; born: Mtarfa, Malta)
Ian Stannard (age: 25; born: Chelmsford)
Bradley Wiggins (age: 32; born: Ghent, Belgium)
Additionally, Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins have been selected to ride the Time Trial on the 1st August. The Road Race – which is a circuit of around 250km – will start and finish on The Mall, while the 44km Time Trial course starts and finishes at Hampton Court Palace.
An excellent 2011 season saw Manx cyclist Mark Cavendish win five Tour de France stages to secure the coveted Green Jersey, become World Road Race champion in Copenhagen, and named as BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
London 2012 will be the fourth time that Bradley Wiggins has competed at the Olympic Games. He makes the transition to road racing after a fantastic Olympic track-cycling career in which he earned a Team Pursuit bronze medal in Sydney, an Individual Pursuit gold medal, Team Pursuit silver medal and Madison bronze medal in Athens, before successfully defending his crown in Beijing and adding gold for the Team Pursuit.
David Millar had to overcome illness to be ready for the Grand Départ of the Tour de France this week, and will compete in his first Olympic Games. Millar won the gold medal in the Time Trial at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi where he represented Scotland. Also making their Olympic debuts will be Chris Froome, who last year won a stage of the Vuelta a España en route to a second-placed overall finish, and Ian Stannard, who won the National Road Race last month in Ampleforth, North Yorkshire.
The athletes were formally nominated to the BOA for selection to Team GB by British Cycling, the National Governing Body.
The addition of the men’s road cyclists brings the total number of athletes officially selected to compete for Team GB at London 2012 to 507 across 25 sports.
Team GB Chef de Mission Andy Hunt said: “With just 23 days left before the Olympic Games begins, it gives me enormous pleasure to welcome these five road cyclists into Team GB to complete the selections for cycling across all disciplines.
“Team GB proved in 2008 that our country is a world leader in the sport of cycling. The men that have been selected today to compete in the Road Race and Time Trial have a huge amount of potential, and will be hoping to get Team GB off to a flying start with success on day one of the Games.
“In Bradley Wiggins we have a cyclist that already knows all about Olympic success with three gold medals on the track to his name, and in Mark Cavendish we have an athlete that continues to climb the ladder towards the cycling greats as he consistently proved his speed and class over the last two years. To have their presence in the squad is a huge boost and their leadership will be important to the team as a whole in London.
“We have fantastic street circuits in London for the two men’s road events and the massive home crowd that will turn out to see our cyclists across every inch of the route will add a real psychological boost and hopefully push them on to glory.”
British Cycling Performance Director and Team GB Cycling Team Leader Dave Brailsford said: “The final selection for the men’s road race was a tough choice as we had a really strong squad of riders to pick from. We have selected the five riders who we believe are on the best form and will give us the fastest team for the race. All the riders selected have a gruelling few weeks coming up, with Ian [Stannard] due to ride in the Tour of Poland and the rest of the lads riding in the Tour de France, so we’ll be keeping an eye on injury and form but for now, I am confident that we have picked the best team for the race.”
Bradley Wiggins said: “I’m happy to be a part of it, we’ve got a good chance to win the road race with Cav and it’s a London Olympics which makes it very special. I’ve also got a chance to go for my fourth gold medal in the time trial.”
Chris Froome said: “It’s a great feeling to be selected, the Olympics is one event I’ve always wanted to go to. The course looks challenging – the laps around Box Hill are going to be hard and will make the race interesting. We’ll be there with Cav to support him and it should be a really good course for us. It’s huge to compete at home – the British support out here at the Tour de France has been amazing and I can only imagine it'll be even bigger at home. If it’s anything like the test event, it will be a big spectacle for the public to come and watch.”
Ian Stannard said: “It feels great to have been selected for my first Olympic Games, and it’s even better to know that we’ve got the support of the home crowd behind us. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the race and giving Mark as much support as possible on the day.”
