France will have four riders, the maximum allowed, at the start of the road cycling race at the 2024 Paris Olympics. French riders finished the 2023 season fifth in the nations rankings.
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During the latest ranking published this Wednesday, October 18 by the International Cycling Union (UCI), decisive for the allocation of quotas for the Olympic Games (July 26-August 11), France appears in fifth position among men behind Belgium, the Denmark, Slovenia and Great Britain. These five nations will each be able to field four runners, the maximum quota for the Olympic race which will take place on August 3, 2024. Countries ranked 6 to 10 will be allowed three runners.
A relief for coach Thomas Voeckler
Two weeks ago, France was only in sixth place, ahead of Spain. But it fell to sixth place after recording disappointing results in the races in the last two weeks of the 2023 calendar.
Having the maximum quota is a relief for Thomas Voeckler, the coach of the French team, who has experienced excellent results in recent years including Julian Alaphilippe’s two world champion titles in 2020 and 2021 as well as the medal of Christophe Laporte’s world silver in 2022 and his title of European champion in September.
Among women, France ends the year 2023 in eighth place and will therefore be able to field three athletes in Paris, a clear progression compared to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 where it only had one runner at the start.
The Netherlands finished first among the women, ahead of Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and Poland. These five nations will have four quotas during the women’s road race which will take place on August 4, 2024.
. Main quotas for the men’s road race (90 runners at the start)
4 riders: Belgium, Denmark, Slovenia, Great Britain, France
3 riders: Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Australia, United States
2 runners: Switzerland, Portugal, Colombia, Norway, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Canada, Kazakhstan, New Zealand
. Main quotas for the women’s road race (90 runners at the start)
4 runners: Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland
3 runners: Great Britain, Australia, France, Germany, Canada
2 runners: Denmark, United States, Austria, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, Uzbekistan, Norway, Slovenia, China
With AFP