Tom Pidcock, Josh Tarling, Stevie Williams and Fred Wright have been announced as the four riders set to take on the Paris Olympics road race for Team GB in August.
GB is one of five nations fielding four-rider squads thanks to its 2023 UCI ranking, alongside France, Denmark, Belgium and Slovenia and this comes as they reveal the biggest British cycling delegation ever sent to an Olympic Games.
The GB men’s road team was revealed as the British Olympic Association (BOA) named the first 20 cyclists taking part in the Olympics, which is set to begin on Friday, July 26. Announcements were also made for the mountain bike, track endurance and track sprint events.
The squad is full of multi-discipline stars, with Pidcock also set to defend his MTB title from the Tokyo Games in 2021 and Tarling also making up half of the road time trial squad.
Joining the European ITT Champion in the 32.4km race against the clock in Paris will be Ethan Hayter, fresh off the back of becoming British Champion on the road. Hayter will then transfer over to the track team and look to go one better than a silver medal from Tokyo with gold in the Team Pursuit.
Hayter will be joined on track by Charlie Tanfield, Ollie Wood, Dan Bigham and Israel-Premier Tech’s Ethan Vernon as the Brits look to unseat the defending Team Pursuit champions Italy. They will be led by Hayter’s road teammate Filippo Ganna and sprint star from the Giro d’Italia, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).
Perhaps the star of the GB track squad announced so far is their women’s Sprint team, with reigning individual Sprint World Champion Emma Finucane lining up for her Olympic debut alongside fellow debutant Sophie Capewell and the experienced Katy Marchant - a trio that only the German women’s sprint squad look capable of beating.
Jack Carlin leads the men’s sprint ambitions and will look to add to his silver and bronze medals from Tokyo with better success alongside Ed Lowe and Hamish Turnbull.
The final announcements are those joining Pidcock in taking on the MTB events at Elancourt Hill. On the men’s side, the current World Champion Pidcock will have U23 World Champion Charlie Aldridge for company, while Commonwealth Champion Evie Richards will lead the women’s ambitions with rising talent Ella Maclean-Howell.
“Team GB has a rich tradition with Olympic cycling, and I am thrilled that we will be taking our largest-ever cycling team to Paris,” said Team GB Chef de Mission, Mark England MBE.
“It is very exciting to see the next generation of cyclists selected to compete for Team GB in Paris, alongside some of our seasoned Olympians and Olympic medalists in Katy [Marchant], Tom [Pidcock], Ethan [Hayter] and Jack [Carlin]. I am fully confident that all the athletes selected today will put in some fantastic performances this summer.”
British Cycling is expected to announce the women's road race team, women's track endurance and BMX teams on July 4.
