UCI confirms Team GB to get full 5 rider allocation for men's Olympic road race + 2 for TT

Great Britain will have a full complement of five riders in the Olympic road race next summer, world cycling's governing body, the UCI has confirmed, Italy, Germany the Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland and the USA will also have five man teams, France will have four riders.

The news is not unexpected and is based on each nation's current UCI ranking,  The announcement comes on the back of a hugely successful season on the road for British riders, culminating in Mark Cavendish’s World Championship win in Copenhagen last month. The UCI also announced that Great Britain will have 2 riders in the men's Olympic Time Trial which takes place 3 days after the road race.
 
Dave Brailsford, British Cycling’s Performance Director, said: “This is a very satisfying achievement for us and the contribution of all the riders and the support team has been fantastic. Our progress over the past 12 months in particular has been good, meaning we have been able to steadily build up Olympic qualification points and achieve the aim of taking a full squad to the Games.”
 
British Cycling’s Chief Executive Ian Drake said: “We’re obviously delighted at the news and I’d like to congratulate Dave (Brailsford) and his team for all their hard work in making this happen. This achievement shouldn’t be underestimated in what is an extremely competitive environment. We have said all along that the creation of Team Sky would boost our Olympic preparations and this really brings it home as a reality. That will never be so important as in the immediate run-up to the Games, and everyone at both British Cycling and Team Sky is fully committed to ensuring our riders hit the start line on The Mall in the best possible shape.”