Inequality on elegability criteria for Olympic Road Race

[tammy25636]

''We could have done with a couple more guys'' thus spoke David Millar with the British teams inability and frustration in not bringing the breakaway back. Cavendish had 4 domestiques while NZ rider Greg Henderson had 1. The formulae used to determine each countries number of elegible riders is really quite bizaar. As i understand it the countries number of world ranking points determines this. I have also read somewhere that some countries do not have enough experienced riders to ensure this inexperience doesn't lead to accidents in the bunch...absolute rubbish..any such riders would soon be left behind. There are a number of other factors which present questions. It may well be that a country has 2-3 extremely highly ranked riders but absolutely no depth below that. Does that mean that they will qualify with 2 extra domestique riders who have all the inexperience they're so concerned about. Road cycling is a team sport, pure and simple and teams in every other sport take the field with equal numbers...and surely thats the Olympic spirit. To use this convoluted logic outside the confines of cycling, how about the next time the All Blacks take the field against the British Lions, the All Blacks have 15 players to the British Lions 6?...as reflected in World rankings....the whole things an absolute nonsense and countries like NZ should boycott the games until there's some form of level playing field...3 riders per country...period.

 

[Caruut]

So a country of 20,000 should have as many riders entering the race as Italy or Belgium?

 

[happytramp]

So a country of 20,000 should have as many riders entering the race as Italy or Belgium?

Of course.

 

[hrotha]

'Road cycling is a team sport, pure and simple

Actually, no it isn't. It's a team sport, but certainly not a normal team sport, no "pure and simple" about it. Results are still individual. All comparisons with rugby, football or whatever are therefore invalid.

 

[icefire]

There should be a thread for teaching road cycling to fans of games played with balls.

Vinokourov had exactly the same number of domestiques as the OP's pet rider.

 

[Caruut]

Of course.

So 204 Olympic nations, how many riders should each have?

 

[Kellys Big Sprocket]

As the host nation, the Great Britain team should have been automatically permitted to field a larger team to assist Cav.

 

[DominicDecoco]

As the host nation, the Great Britain team should have been automatically permitted to field a larger team to assist Cav.

As Matti Brechel had his 230th meal of pasta this season just hours before the race, Denmark team should have been automatically permitted to field a larger team to assist Matti...

 

[spalco]

So 204 Olympic nations, how many riders should each have?

4 riders per team, top 50 nations get to participate = 200 riders.

 

[woodenswan]

Actually, no it isn't. It's a team sport, but certainly not a normal team sport, no "pure and simple" about it. Results are still individual. All comparisons with rugby, football or whatever are therefore invalid.

exactly

The formulae used to determine each countries number of elegible riders is really quite logical

fixed it

 

[sultanofhyd]

4 riders per team, top 50 nations get to participate = 200 riders.

What happens to people like Sagan and others from obscure countries then?

 

[spalco]

What happens to people like Sagan and others from obscure countries then?

Tough luck. Iceland will never win the football World Cup either even if they hypothetically had the best player in the world.

 

[Kazistuta]

And I'm pretty certain Slovakia is among the 50 best nations regardless. Only a guy like Marc De Maar would most likely be left out.

No matter what I like the olympic selection process for cycling as it is.....

 

[will10]

''We could have done with a couple more guys'' thus spoke David Millar with the British teams inability and frustration in not bringing the breakaway back. Cavendish had 4 domestiques while NZ rider Greg Henderson had 1. The formulae used to determine each countries number of elegible riders is really quite bizaar. As i understand it the countries number of world ranking points determines this. I have also read somewhere that some countries do not have enough experienced riders to ensure this inexperience doesn't lead to accidents in the bunch...absolute rubbish..any such riders would soon be left behind. There are a number of other factors which present questions. It may well be that a country has 2-3 extremely highly ranked riders but absolutely no depth below that. Does that mean that they will qualify with 2 extra domestique riders who have all the inexperience they're so concerned about. Road cycling is a team sport, pure and simple and teams in every other sport take the field with equal numbers...and surely thats the Olympic spirit. To use this convoluted logic outside the confines of cycling, how about the next time the All Blacks take the field against the British Lions, the All Blacks have 15 players to the British Lions 6?...as reflected in World rankings....the whole things an absolute nonsense and countries like NZ should boycott the games until there's some form of level playing field...3 riders per country...period.

So you're from New Zealand. Cool.

 

[Caruut]

4 riders per team, top 50 nations get to participate = 200 riders.

So nation number 51 is completely ****ed over in comparison to nation 50?

What happens if nation number 51 has one genuine contender and no other riders of any real stature, and nation number 50 has 4 guys who are okay and put together are better than nation 51's? They're all going to get dropped and someone who could have a try gets excluded.

 

[Magnus]

What happens to people like Sagan and others from obscure countries then?

Sagan would be fine. Slovakia is 8th on the nation UCI World Tour ranking and 17th on CQ's nations ranking.

 

[Magnus]

So nation number 51 is completely ****ed over in comparison to nation 50?

What happens if nation number 51 has one genuine contender and no other riders of any real stature, and nation number 50 has 4 guys who are okay and put together are better than nation 51's? They're all going to get dropped and someone who could have a try gets excluded.

If nation number 51 had a genuine contender they wouldn't be ranked 51. Going by the current CQ nations ranking the biggest riders that would miss out is someone like Pliuschin, Carlström, Veikkanen and Marc de Maar.

 

[Caruut]

Tough luck. Iceland will never win the football World Cup either even if they hypothetically had the best player in the world.

Just looking at the CQ rankings. Uruguay are 46th and Finland are 57th. It is laughable that in the name of fairness, you decide that there are 4 Uruguayans more deserving of a place than a rider like Jussi Veikkanen. All to ensure that Greg Henderson has a proper leadout train.

 

[spalco]

Sagan would be fine. Slovakia is 8th on the nation UCI World Tour ranking and 17th on CQ's nations ranking.

In fact Sagan would be better off than now, because he woudl get some support instead of being in the race alone.

 

[Caruut]

If nation number 51 had a genuine contender they wouldn't be ranked 51. Going by the current CQ nations ranking the biggest riders that would miss out is someone like Pliuschin, Carlström, Veikkanen and Marc de Maar.

Haha, hadn't read this when I said about Veikkanen.

It seems crazy to me that if De Maar managed to grab a good win from a break, we would have 3 more riders from Curacao turning up while Veikkanen was sat at home. The current system is clearly preferable to that situation in my opinion.

 

[spalco]

Just looking at the CQ rankings. Uruguay are 46th and Finland are 57th. It is laughable that in the name of fairness, you decide that there are 4 Uruguayans more deserving of a place than a rider like Jussi Veikkanen. All to ensure that Greg Henderson has a proper leadout train.

My suggestion is not 100% fair, granted, but you have to make a cutoff somewhere.

If you must, award 10 wild card places to the best riders not already allowed to particpate because of their nation's standing.

 

[TourOfTexas]

I would say every nation gets to send 4 riders to a qualifying 1hr time trial on stationary bikes. Top 200 riders get to start the road race.

 

[mb2612]

I would say every nation gets to send 4 riders to a qualifying 1hr time trial on stationary bikes. Top 200 riders get to start the road race.

Stationary, so aerodynamics don't matter?

So no climber will ever qualify.

 

[simo1733]

Stationary, so aerodynamics don't matter?

So no climber will ever qualify.

Except Chris Froome

 

[ElChingon]

And no pure African countries represented... (South Africa the odd one out as I hope I don't need to explain that).