USA Cycling has announced the long list of athletes from which the final selection will be made for the women’s road races at the London 2012 Olympics. Although the maximum allocation of riders per team in the road race will be four – for the top five ranked nations – there are thirteen riders listed, from which the eventual team will be drawn.
Of the thirteen names, four have met the automatic nomination criteria – national road champion Robin Farina, Giro della Toscana winner Megan Guarnier (Tibco), Amber Neben and national time trial champion Evelyn Stevens (both HTC-Highroad) – while the other nine have made the list through discretionary selection.
The remaining nine riders include 2008 Olympic time trial champion Kristin Armstrong (Peanut Butter & Co/Twenty12), who was controversially replaced by Neben while in flight to the World championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October.
Currently the United States is ranked seventh in the world, which would mean that it would be eligible for three places in the peloton in London.
“USA Cycling would like to congratulate the athletes who have earned nominations to the 2012 Olympic Long Team in these disciplines,” said Jim Miller, USA Cycling Vice President of Athletics. “The hard work and determination of these athletes has helped USA Cycling advance its vision of making the U.S. the most successful country in the world of competitive cycling. They are evidence of the United States’ ability to be a legitimate medal contender across all four disciplines of competitive cycling in London.
“The athletes on this list have either proven their capabilities to win medals in major international events or illustrated the potential to do so in the future,” he added.
There will be no long list for the men’s road races, with riders selection being based on results at major international races in 2011 and 2012. To date no men have met the automatic qualification criteria.
Also released are the long lists for men’s and women’s mountain bike events.
Long list for women’s road and time trial races:
Robin Farina, Megan Guarnier, Amber Neben, Evelyn Stevens, Kristin Armstrong, Theresa Cliff-Ryan, Andrea Dvorak, Janel Holcomb, Kristin McGrath, Amanda Miller, Shelley Olds, Carmen Small and Lauren Tamayo
Long list for men’s mountain bike race:
Todd Wells, Sam Schultz, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Jeremiah Bishop, Adam Craig, Stephen Ettinger, Spencer Paxson and Michael Broderick
Long list for women’s mountain bike race:
Lea Davison, Georgia Gould, Heather Irmiger, Mary McConneloug, Katie Compton, Willow Rockwell, Chloe Woodruff, Krista Park and Judy Freeman