'Nothing motivates people to try a new sport like the Olympic Games' - Cyclocross plays a role equation for US success at elite level

The Los Angeles Olympic Games are still 32 months away, set for July 14-30, 2028; however, the wheels have been turning at USA Cycling to prepare for major opportunities with a home Games.

It's not just a chance to improve on six cycling medals, individual and a team event, won at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, but a chance for cyclocross to regain some lustre in the US should the discipline become a medal sport by the time the Winter Games return to Salt Lake City, Utah in 2034.

Brendan Quirk, CEO of USA Cycling, spoke to Cyclingnews about a strategic plan approved this summer to grow bike racing nationwide for the next four years, and the chances of cyclocross becoming a medal sport at the Olympics.

Like any business plan, many of the organisations' priorities involved returning themes about improving membership benefits and expanding streams of revenue, which ultimately circles back to funding the membership benefits. So what was a top-line objective that was most compelling? Quirk was quick to talk about providing a path for new riders and amateur cyclists to the top level of cycling, especially the Olympic Games.

"The entire American Olympic movement completely recognizes the size of scale, the opportunity, having a home Games, right? There's the opportunity on the playing field and the opportunity off the playing field, and that's what we have to capitalize on. So on the playing field, it's 10 and 12 medals for cycling," he said, making a distinction with a dozen medals for track and 10 more across road racing, mountain bike, BMX Freestyle and BMX Racing.

"And then off the playing field, [it's the] incredible opportunity for us to grow the sport. Our strategic plan is a unified plan to create continuity between growth in the grassroots sport and increasing the likelihood of success at high performance."

He noted that cyclocross was one of the disciplines he saw as having a strong grassroots base currently, and was optimistic about the discipline gaining entry as a medal sport in the Olympics. A month ago, Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, told the Guardian he supported adding cyclocross and cross-country running as Olympic medal sports, held on the same course at a winter Games. But is there a serious plan?

"Based on conversations I have had, I would say it's a better than 50% chance [for cyclocross to debut] at the 2030 Games. It's a massive priority for Sebastian Coe and David Lappartient [UCI president]. I very much admire the UCI's tenacity to make this happen," Quirk told Cyclingnews.

"So give the UCI major props for the work they have been doing to try to make this happen, doing it in collaboration with World Athletics. One way or the other, I hope to know one way or the other by the end of 2026.

"Could you imagine cyclocross, at the 2034 Salt Lake Olympics? Off the charts. The UCI has consulted with us at USA Cycling in terms of how they're thinking about Salt Lake 2034 and USA Cycling is wholeheartedly behind this idea."

Another group eager to have cyclocross as an Olympic discipline is the EuroCrossAcademy (ECA), a US non-profit run by Geoff Proctor, which conducts cycling camps and European racing opportunities for juniors as part of a "holistic student-athlete-character building curriculum".

While the Olympic Charter currently allows only sports that take place on ice and snow to be part of the Winter Games, Proctor thought that the nature of cyclocross being a traditional winter sport could cut through the red tape.

"We compete in mud, ice, snow in cyclocross, so I think that they're [IOC] willing to circumvent that and change the charter. Things are looking good. It's also trying to piggyback off of cross-country running, which is equity. Obviously, 2034 is in Salt Lake, which is my backyard, so I'm really, really hoping that this all comes to fruition," Proctor, who is based in Montana, told Cyclingnews by telephone.

"Brendan [Quirk] has always been an advocate for 'cross. ECA really does a lot of cyclocross development work in this country, more recently focused on juniors. And I think athletes have been using cyclocross as a stepping stone discipline to road or mountain or whatever. So we just really help these kids along their journey."

The ECA had three summer training camps in 2025 and will lead two European competition blocks this fall, the first one in mid-November for 15-16 juniors, six women and six men, in the Netherlands and another dozen riders, 17-18 juniors, in December and the first week of January in Belgium.

"The thing about cyclocross is that we have an amazing grassroots ecosystem. Some of the biggest heroes in American bike racing are the event promoters, who year after year after year, put on these amazing races. Numbers are really strong in cyclocross.

"Cyclocross has proven to be a really instrumental tool for developing our best road and mountain bike athletes, competing on the World Tour and in the World Cups. It has provided them, juniors and U23s, absolutely essential skill development in terms of fitness development, in terms of explosive power, in terms of bike handling, and they are much better road racers and mountain bikers for it," Quirk said.

Three steps to four-year plan

The nearest opportunity for cycling medals will be in 2028, when another 22 gold medals will be on offer at cycling events across 14 days of competition in southern California, with the home country looking to increase from three victories, two on the track and one in road racing, taken previously.

At the 2024 Games, the US earned medals in a total of six cycling events, notably all going to women - Jennifer Valente, Kristen Faulkner, Chloé Dygert and Lilly Williams bringing home a gold in the Team Pursuit, Valente adding an Omnium gold and Faulkner the road race gold. Dygert won a bronze in the individual time trial on the road, Haley Batten took silver in mountain bike XCO and Perris Benegas won silver in MBX Freestyle.

After serving as a board member of USA Cycling for two years, Quirk stepped into the lead role as CEO in December 2021, so the success in 2024 in Paris was just a start. For USA Cycling to match or surpass that number, Quirk interpreted the plan with three main objectives, and no excuses to make something happen on home soil.

"Number one, how do we use this moment to grow sponsorship revenue? We can take that revenue and plow it into the programs and support of local racing across America.

"Number two is how do we grow giving to our foundation, which helps drive growth in our high-performance programs.

"And then, thirdly, how do we use the exposure to grow grassroots interest in the sport? Nothing motivates people to try a new sport like the Olympic Games. You have it at home, and we feel like it's going to have an exponential impact on that level of interest."

Quirk said the strategic plan was all about unifying "continuity" in the growth of the sport for the journey from grassroots trial to high performance success, whether a cat 5 road rider or a first-time mountain bike participant, the objective is to tie it all together so an individual understands "what the pathway is", involving national championships, making a national team, and ultimately contending for a sport at the Olympic Games.

In his assessment of progress at the governing body, he said they have supported the grassroots ecosystem "fairly well", built a solid high-performance programme "reasonably well", but struggled to connect the path in between.

He said USAC had a stable revenue stream, but as a non-profit entity, their obligation was focused on membership, not sponsorship, to deliver programmes and provide grant money, not "sock away money and save it for a rainy day".

The first initiative set in motion from the plan was a redesigned website with a new member portal, including an improved interface for national rankings. USAC will also expand Project 4:05, which used real-time analytics and operations research to enhance athlete development, race strategy and aerodynamic efficiency for the Women's Team Pursuit group at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

The first effort with Project 4:05 projected a gold-medal target time of 4:05, and the US women won the gold with a time of 4:04.302. The programme was recognised with a 2025 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science early this year. USA Cycling will use this as one of the steps to go from awards to gold medals.