Great Britain’s cycling hopes for the Paris Olympics

Given their potential across all these disciplines, Great Britain are the favourites to top the cycling medal table once again. However, they’ll face a tougher challenge than they have in a long while. The Tokyo Olympics in 2021 saw a narrowing of the gap, and the feeling is that other nations have steadily been catching up in that arms race, at the same time as many of the celebrities from the British Cycling golden age have moved on, and that’s without mentioning the freak gardening accident that has robbed them of their best track rider for Paris. 

Here, we delve a little deeper into Great Britain’s medal prospects for the Paris Olympics.

Track

Katie Archibald was the victim of that freak accident, tripping over a step in her garden and suffering a double leg break and torn ligaments. The Scot would have competed in the Omnium, Madison, and Team Pursuit, three disciplines in which she has previously been world champion. She won Olympic gold in the Team Pursuit in Rio in 2016 and the Madison in 2021, and was set to emerge from the shadow of the great Laura Kenny to take aim at the Omnium in Paris. With a slew of medals across major competitions in recent years, Archibald has become arguably the world’s best endurance track rider and there are no two ways about it, her absence is an absolute hammer blow for GB.

Still, there is a rising star who could be a household name by the end of the summer. Emma Finucane is only 21 years of age but has burst onto the scene in the past couple of years, to the point where she won the Individual Sprint world title last autumn and added the European title in January. That’ll be her big target here but she’ll also line up in the Keirin. She’s young but appears mature enough to handle this next step, and there’s a real buzz around her heading into Paris.

Finucane has breathed life into a women’s sprint set-up that has never had the success of their women’s endurance or men’s sprint counterparts. GB have qualified for the Team Sprint in Paris for the first time since 2012, the failure ahead of Rio 2016 causing huge controversy and leading Katy Marchant to lash out at British Cycling management. Marchant returns for her third Olympics, as a mother and having acknowledged the culture change in the federation in recent years, while the sprint division is rounded out by 25-year-old Sophie Capewell. Finucane and Capewell were in the trio that took silver at last year’s Worlds, while Marchant joined at the Nations Cup in February to claim the first women’s team sprint gold in any competition since 2012. A medal will be the aim in Paris, and there’s no reason it can’t be gold.

As for how the women’s endurance squad is shaping up without Archibald, the biggest name is that of Elinor Barker, who, like Marchant, is returning as a mother for her third Games. Barker was part of the all-conquering Team Pursuit squad of old and also has world titles to her name in the Points Race, Scratch Race, and Madison. Barker looks set to replace Archibald in the Omnium while finding a new Madison partner in Neah Evans, although the pair have already teamed up at the European Championships. Both events represent medal opportunities even if gold is now less likely. The same can be said for the Team Pursuit. Josie Knight is the other familiar member of the quartet, while Anna Morris and Jess Roberts make their Olympic debuts, but Archibald is as good as irreplaceable.

On the men’s side, the Team Pursuit is a big medal target and will be one of the most hotly-anticipated events of the entire Games. Propelled by Dan Bigham, who has had a string of controversies with British Cycling and worked behind the scenes for Denmark at the last Games, the group have breathed new life into an event where GB had slipped from their perch. WorldTour pros Ethan Vernon and Ethan Hayter are among the squad, along with an old Bigham ally in Charlie Tanfield and Ollie Wood. They clinched the world title at the 2022 World Championships, and although a crash wrecked their title defence, they claimed European gold with a time three seconds off the world record. What makes GB’s medal prospects uncertain, and the event so exciting, is the level of competition, with Bigham’s former employers Denmark and Olympic champions Italy both involved in a contest that could come down to the wire.

Hayter has lost his way a little on the road with Ineos Grenadiers but appears at his natural best on the track. He’ll be in the hunt for gold in the Omnium, having become the European champion in January, and will link up with Ollie Wood in a dangerous pairing for the Madison.

In the sprinting department, once ruled by some of Britain’s most decorated Olympians in Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny, there are more muted expectations.

Tokyo silver and bronze medallist Jack Carlin leads the line alongside two debutants in Hamish Turnbull and Ed Lowe. As much as anything, it’s the competition that counts against them. Harrie Lavreysen has established himself as the thunder-thighed sprinting king and is the runaway favourite in the Individual Sprint and Keirin. Likewise, his Dutch squad, along with the Australians, are expected to dominate the Team Sprint event. The bottom steps of the sprint podiums do look more open, so a medal is not out of the question if GB’s riders get everything right on the day.

Despite the inexperience, they do have an ace in the pack in that they are being coached by Jason Kenny, who managed to dismantle Lavreysen in the Keirin in Tokyo to become Britain’s most decorated Olympian.

Road

On the road, Britain have never hit the same heights as the track, which is perhaps unsurprising given the relative paucity of medals on offer and the overwhelming range of candidates for them. Nicole Cooke from 2008 is Britain’s only road race champion and Bradley Wiggins from 2012 the only time trial champion. Medals have been in short supply ever since.

In Paris, the biggest gold medal prospect on the road is surely Josh Tarling in the men’s individual time trial. The Welshman is only 20 but has had an extraordinary debut two seasons as a professional, taking bronze at the World Championships last year and taking the European title soon after. Earlier this year the Belgian star Wout van Aert was asked who the best time triallist in the world was. “For now, Evenepoel, but soon, Tarling,” he said. This could be his moment. The flat course in Paris suits him perfectly, although the same is true of the Hour Record holder Filippo Ganna, who might have a thing or two to say about Van Aert’s comments. Ethan Hayter also lines up for GB and has the calibre for a strong result but Tarling is the medal contender and some would say the favourite for gold.

As for the men’s road race, it’s much more of a lottery but in Tom Pidcock GB have a rider suited to the course and to the occasion, even if his early exit from the Tour de France with COVID-19 has left a question mark over his preparation. Pidcock impressed from his debut in an elite World Champs as a 21-year-old and GB’s best finisher in Imola in 2020. He has since added Strade Bianche and Amstel Gold Race to a palmarès that is still being built in conjunction with other disciplines. In fact, Pidcock is also the reigning Olympic champion in mountain bike and will be out to defend that title five days before the road race. Fred Wright is a proven Tour of Flanders top-10 rider, Stevie Williams won Flèche Wallonne this spring, and Tarling can never be underestimated as he doubles up with the TT, but it’s Pidcock who’s realistically GB’s leading light here. You never know quite what you’re going to get with the Yorkshireman, but when he strikes, he strikes big.

On the women’s side, Lizzie Deignan is Britain’s big name, a former world champion, major Classics champion, and Olympic silver medallist from 2012. She’s now 35 and hasn’t won a race since she landed the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes in 2021, although she has always stepped up to the plate in international events, as recently as last year’s Worlds, where she was sixth.

Deignan might well injure something but if represents more of the past, then the future appears to belong to Pfeiffer Georgi. The 23-year-old has really started to hit her stride now and still has bags of potential to explore. She retained her British national champion’s jersey last month, in a season in which she made a Classics breakthrough with a podium at Paris-Roubaix. She’d prefer the Olympics course to be a little flatter but then again she was also fourth in Amstel Gold this year.

Anna Henderson, the aerodynamic Visma-Lease a Bike rider, represents GB in the time trial, doubling up with the road race. She was fourth at last year’s Worlds TT and second at the European Championships. Given the sheer depth of competition, a medal will be a tall order but she’ll want to be knocking on the door.

Mountain bike

Mountain biking was only added to the Olympic programme in 1996, with just the Cross-Country discipline included. Britain had never won a medal until Tom Pidcock turned up in Tokyo and stormed off with gold, one of a number of breakthrough moments in his nascent career.

Pidcock will be out to defend his title and will be the favourite for the gold medal in Paris. The 24-year-old’s efforts on the road and in cyclo-cross haven’t dampened his mountain biking talents - in fact, he has said he was ‘born to mountain bike - and he has dipped in this season to take some commanding wins, notably at Nove Mesto and Crans Montana. The legendary Nino Schurter, veteran of four Olympics and winner of one, will be among the contenders, as will his compatriot Mathias Flückiger, but Pidcock on song has the beating of both.

Pidcock will be joined in the men’s race by rising star Charlie Aldridge. A former world champion at junior and U23 level, he has only stepped up to the elites this season but placed an eye-catching fourth in Nove Mesto, which actually earned GB their second spot for Paris. There’ll be no expectations, but more than a little excitement over what he could achieve.

GB have also qualified two riders for the women’s race, making a full complement for the first time since Sydney in 2000. Evie Richards, who was seventh in Tokyo three years ago before taking the world title, will lead the line but faces question marks over her form. She has had a season disrupted by injury, notably a concussion in the spring, and although hopes were raised by recent results - a podium in Crans Montana and sixth in Les Gets - she remains an outsider for a medal.

As in the men’s race, the established campaigner will be joined by a rising star, in the form of Ella Maclean-Howell, who has got the nod for the second spot despite being just 19 years of age.

BMX

The BMX was one of the feel-good areas for British Cycling in Toyko. Beth Shriever stormed to a stunning gold medal and her celebrations with Kye Whyte, who won a silver medal, will live long in the memory. Together, they became GB’s first ever Olympics BMX medallists, somewhat in spite of the system, which saw funding cuts that controversially were heaviest for the female riders.

Shriever and Whyte return to represent GB in Paris in the sole spots for the women’s and men’s BMX Racing events. Soon after that golden day in Tokyo, Shriever became the world champion, a title she reclaimed last autumn, confirming her status at the top of the sport. She suffered a collarbone fracture in May but says that won’t affect her in Paris, having also dislocated a shoulder in the run-up to Tokyo. Now a fully-funded professional BMX rider, a second Olympic title would cement her greatness.

As for Whyte, he won his first World Cup event in February and even if he hasn’t had a particularly strong or consistent campaign since then, he will feel he’s capable of pulling something out of the bag on the day. After all, there’s a sense of unfinished business; he won silver as a 21-year-old in Tokyo, but felt it could and perhaps should have been gold. 

There’s also a Freestyle BMX discipline, which made its Olympic debut in Tokyo, and where GB could buttress their medal tally. Charlotte Worthington won the gold three years ago when she became the first-ever woman to land a 360 backflip. She has admitted to struggling to adapt to that stardom, while the competition has become more intense, which is why expectations are a little more muted this time out. 

Kieran Reilly is the men’s Freestyle rider, who has strong credentials after becoming World and European Champion last year. He wasn’t so dominant in qualifying, and Logan Martin remains the rider to beat, but he’ll be in the hunt for a medal.