British London Olympic 2012 Cycling Road/Track Team And Events
2012 is set to be one of the most exciting year London town has ever seen, hosting the Olympics will see the capital overrun with sporting stars and sporting enthusiasts. An aspect of the London Olympics that cycling devotees all around the world are eagerly awaiting are the various cycling events, which are promised to be unmissable. Considered one of the biggest sports in the world today the 2012 Olympics are offering a number of cycling events in both BMX and MTB bikes, as well as fantastic road races and track cycling. The eagerly awaited road and track cycling events have been scheduled to occur at the end of July and early days in August, ensuring perfect weather for these intense, gruelling disciplines.
The Road cycling events are scheduled to take place in both London and Surrey and will include two road cycling events for both male and female cycling athletes. The first road cycling event will be an unpretentious road race covering 250km for men and 140km for women, with the first rider passing the finishing line winning the coveted gold. The other Olympic road race is a time trial event that will see riders start 90 seconds apart, with the winner offering the fastest time over the entire course. The men’s road races are scheduled to occur on July 28th, while the women’s is set for July 29th and will stretch across London before entering Surrey and finishing back at London’s historic landmark The Mall.
Another eagerly anticipated cycling type is track racing, which will play a significant role in London’s 2012 Olympics. Stated to take place over 6 days between August 2nd and August 7th, cycling enthusiasts can look forward to 10 track cycling events with 10 gold medals being awarded to the best cyclists from around the world. Individual track races include ‘The Sprint’, which will see riders racing against one another over a series of three-lap races. While ‘The Keirin’ sees 7 riders racing for victory after following a pacing motorcycle at the early stage of the race. London’s 2012 Olympic track racing also sees 2 team events, ‘the Team Sprint’ a time trial event and the Team Pursuit, which is held over 16 laps for men and 12 laps for women. And lastly, ‘the Omnium’ a new event being unveiled at this year’s Olympics, this programme will see individual riders competing across 6 different disciplines.
With stamina, strategy and fitness tested in all of these cycling events it’s widely accepted that the winner of any of these races has to be at the top of their game. If you aren’t able to line the streets of London to cheer on your favourite rider or sit in London’s newly built velodrome arena and enjoy the electrifying atmosphere you are sure to be able to watch this exciting event on TV, and with millions of viewers expected to tune in for each track and road event 2012 is guaranteed to be a great year for cycling.
British Olympic male cyclists’ profiles
Road Riders
Mark Cavandish – @markcavendish
Mark Cavandish is well known throughout the world for being one of the best road riders Britain has to offer. Starting his career with the British Cycling track programme, Cavandish quickly created his reputation by becoming Madision World champion in 2005 and Commonwealth Scratch champion the following year. Cavandish’s international fame however occurred when he won the 2007 Scheldepeprijs classic in Belgium ahead of sprint legend Robbie McEwen. This win was just the beginning for Cavandish, who went on to win a staggering 10 other victories in his first year as a professional road racer. Cavandish cemented his world class reputation as the worlds’ fastest finisher in 2008 when he continually beat peleton’s finest sprinters. The achievements and accolades surrounding Cavandish are unbelievable, for example in 2009 he won two stages of the Tour of Qatar, won the Milan-San Remo, become the second Briton to win a Monument as well as win stage two of the Tour de France. Mark Cavandish is undoubtedly one of Britain’s most successful pro riders of all time and 2012 is set to be another great year for this gifted sportsman.
Bradley Wiggins – @bradwiggins
Wiggins has been cycling his entire life and although he began his career on the track, where he enjoyed a number of successes in particular his breakthrough as the winner of the World Junior pursuit at just 18 years old and becoming Bronze individual pursuit Olympic champion at the Sidney Olympics in 2004. Shortly after his Olympic win Wiggins became a professional road racer, winning a number of impressive titles, in particular Wiggins holds a number of time trial titles to his name. Impressively, at the 2004 Athens Olympic games Wiggins became the first athlete in over 40 years to win three medals at a single Olympics, a feat he almost repeated at the Beijing Olympics having won two Gold medals in the individual and team pursuit. In 2009 however Wiggins began to refocus his attention road racing, which lead to some impressive results in particular his fourth overall finish at the Tour de France, his first attempt at an overall contender. 2010 was not one of Wiggin’s strongest seasons, however 2011 saw the comeback of Bradley Wiggins taking an overall win at the Criterium du Dauphine and a silver medal at the 2011 World Championshp time trail.
Steve Cummings – @stevocummings
Since his debut, where he won the Eddy Soens memorial race at the young age of 17 (the youngest rider to do so), Steve Cummings has been a favourite in the cycling world. Although Cummings chose to focus on track racing in the early part of his career, winning various titles at national, European and Commonwealth events, he also managed to create a resilient and impressive career in road racing. Cummings 2008 season was his best to date, enjoyinghis first professional win as he took a stage at the Giro della Provincia de Reggio Calabria. This victory was quickly followed with a win at the one-day Coppa Bernocchi. And by the end of his 2008 season Cummings was fourth on one of the toughest stages of the Giro d’Italia, while also coming second in both the Tour of Britain and Tour of Denmark. Although Cummings had relatively quiet 2009/10 seasons, 2011 saw the re-emergence of Cummings 2008 spirit as he begun 2011 with a stage win in the Tour of the Algarve in Portugal.
Although originally born in Kenya, Chris Froome changed his Kenyan license for a British one at the start of 2008 after being introduced to the Barloworld team by Robbie Hunter. As a teenager Froome began mountain biking before being introduced to road racing. The early years of Froome’s professional career is not short of extraordinary, with impressive performances at both the Giro del Capo and the Giro del’Appennino, Froome was awarded a ride in the Tour de France, where he took 84th place overall, despite having only turned professional 2 years previously. Despite illness, being overlooked and a clerical error preventing Froome from riding with Great Britian for the 2008 Olympics, this well known rider produced results on the 2011 Vuelta a Espana riding alongside Bradley Wiggins in Sky’s assault on the overall classification. Froome’s performance in this event earned him the red leader’s jersey after taking second place behind Tony Martin in 10th stage individual time trial. A spectacular stage finish on the steep kilometre on Pena Cabarga against Juan Jose Cobo earned Froome a second overall finish and cemented Froome’s reputation as a genuine grand tour contender.
A native of Chelmsford Ian Stannard made his breakthrough in 2007 as a stagiare for the T-Mobile team and winning the Milano-Brusetto race. Stannard made the wise choice of selecting a smaller, non-ProTour team, the Belgian Landbouwkrediet team, which allowed Stannard to ride in some of the Classics, something which may not have been possible in a bigger team. Being part of a smaller team enabled Stannard to complete the Tour of Flanders, Ghent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix. Although a strong track rider, Stannard’s road racing success continued under the British backed Sky Team, with an extraordinary performance in the 2010 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, where he enjoyed a third place finish. While 2011 saw Stannard win a stage in the Tour of Austria.
Track Riders
Born in 1998 in Burnley, Burke is another fantastic track and road cyclist that has been nurtured through Great Britain’s Olympic Academy Programme. Specialising in team pursuit, winning the 2005 European Junior Championship at his chosen event, Burke was picked for track ahead of Steve Cummings for Beijing’s 2008 Olympics, where he took home the Bronze for individual pursuit. The Olympic Bronze coupled with a Gold at Manchester’s Track World Cup and a British title in the individual pursuit puts Burke in a great position for 2012’s Olympics.
Specialising in team pursuit this Barnsley born rider is an Olympic Gold medallist, European and World team pursuit winner. A professional on the road as well as track, 2008 saw this young rider as part of the unstoppable team pursuit squad that won gold medals at both the World Championships and the Olympics, as well as at the World Cup in Manchester. While there is no doubt that Clancy is a fantastic team pursuer, winning an individual pursuit medal at the World Cup in Manchester shows Clancy’s fantastic solo potential.
As a junior Matt Crampton won double Gold at the 2004 European Track Championships, since then Crampton has both suffered and gained from the strength of Britain’s track sprinter, often being overlooked during team selection. Nevertheless, this Manchester born cyclist has learnt from the best Britain has to offer, in particular Chris Hoy, Jamie Staff and Craig MacLeanand has continually built upon his already natural talent, helping him to win a number of races in the Revolution Track series against some notable competitors and win a Bronze medal in the Sprint during the UCI Track World Cup’s Manchester visit.
Scouted whilst still at school after being spotted via BC’s Go Ride scheme, Daniell’s has been fast-tracked for success in track’s sprint disciplines. Since being scouted Daniell’s continued to improve and amaze the cycling world, with junior wins in the World and European Championships in 2006. These wins were followed by more Gold medals as a junior the following year at the World, European and British Championships in team sprint, sprint and kilo events. The 2008/09 Manchester World Cup however saw Daniell’s first senior victory where Daniell’s set a blistering time of 1-01-996 for a remarkable kilo win.
Suffolk born Edgar trained at the renowned World Cycling School in Switzerland and has since progressed quickly on a number of track events. Considered one of the most promising young track cyclists, Edgar secured a silver medal in kerin at the 2008 Olympics, beaten only by his kerin team mate Chris Hoy. The 2008 and 2009 Manchester World Cup however saw this inspiring young track rider achieve a gold medal in team sprint.
Probably one of the most prolific track riders today, Chris Hoy is considered by many in the cycling world at the epitome of British cycling. An ambassador of British sport, Hoy originally rode mountain bikes, time trials, road and track in his teenage years, before focussing his efforts on track. Since his breakthrough in 2004 Hoy has won a plethora of titles, including Olympic Gold in 1km time trial (kilo) in 2004, two world titles at Manchester’s World Track Championships as well as three gold medals at 2008 Beijing Olympic games. Hoy has been awarded an MBE for his services to cycling and in 2009 was knighted, a rare accomplishment for a still active sportsman. A remarkable sportsman and world class cyclist, its easy see why Hoy is revered in the sporting world.
Peter Kennaugh – @petekennaugh
Kennaugh is considered to be, alongside his friend and star sprinter Mark Cavandish, one of the best riders to emerge from the Isle of Man. Well known within the British junior scene, winning gold medals at the World and European championships while also claiming the British National Junior Series title on the road in 2007. Moving to Italy with the GB Academy in 2008 Kannaugh quickly became a prominent figure on the continental circuit, winning the prestigious amateur classics Trofeo Bastianelli and GP Capodarco. There is no doubt in the minds of the British cycling world that Kennaugh has more to bring in the future.
At 24 years old Jason Kenny has already cemented his status in the cycling world having already won a Silver medal in the individual sprint, whilst also being part of gold medal winning team sprint squad. Winning the sprint and sprint team at Manchesters World Cup, Kenny is undoubtedly one of the best senior sprinters for Great Britain and many individuals in the cycling world believe that 2012 will be the year where this ambitious, talented cyclist will surpass the more senior track members who are reaching the end of their careers.
Ben Swift has always impressed the cycling world since his formative years as a junior cyclist and caught the attention of everyone with his impressive performance at the Tour of Britain. But while in 2007 he won the King of the Mountains title in his home tour, 2008 was Swift’s best season. 2008 saw Swift win the pretentious Coppa della Pace and represent Britain at the Beijing Olympic games. Since 2008 Swift has continued to impress his peers, taking third place at the second stage of the Giro d’Italia, a stage win at the Tour of Britain and two stage wins at the Tour Down Under in 2011.
Andrew Tennant not only joined the British Cycling Olympic Academy in 2005, but that year also saw Tennant gain global recognition by winning the individual pursuit at the Junior Track World Championships in Austria. Since his debut Tennant holds a number of junior, under 23s and senior titles at a national, European and world level and continues to compete at track and road events for several British teams, whilst also undertaking his duties for Great Britain and England. Winning the Richmond Grand Prix in 2011, Tennant will undoubtedly be on the shortlist for Great Britain’s pursuit squad for the 2012 Olympics.
Geraint Thomas – Road and Track – @geraintthomas86
A native of Cardiff this well known Welshman holds two national junior titles to his name and went on to win the silver in the points race at the European Track championships. Joining the British Cycling Olympic Academy in 2005, after an impressive win at the 2004 Junior Paris-Roubaix, Thomas has proven to be a strong rider on both the road and track, with a number of notable achievements in both cycling events. Thomas’ track achievements include being part of the gold-medal winning team pursuit squad at the 2008 World Championships and Olympics. In 2009 this fantastic Welsh rider won Gold at the Track World cup round in the Manchester Velodrome, posting the fastest pursuit time in his qualifying round – 4-15.015. At the beginning of 2009 Thomas’ began to focus more on road racing and 2010 saw Thomas’ breakthrough year in the world of road racing, where he enjoyed a time in the top ten of the Tour de France and gained the white jersey of the best young rider after placing second in the third stage. 2010 was also the year Thomas took first place at the British Road Race National Championships. And 2011 was another fantastic road racing year for the Welshman, who earned an overall win at the Bayern-Rundfahrt in German, his first major stage race overall win and a second place in Dwars Door Valaanderen.