The door to the Great Britain team for Rio has been reopened a fraction for the sprinter Jess Varnish whose controversial ejection from the squad in April prompted a chain of events that led to the departure of the technical director Shane Sutton. British Cycling, in conjunction with the British Olympic Association, has instituted an appeals procedure for riders who are outside the funding system but consider they should have been given a place in the squad.
The head coach, Iain Dyer, and the programmes director, Andy Harrison, who have stepped into the void left by Sutton, were unclear about the precise details but the time frame is clear: the process will have to be complete before teams are presented to the organisers on 18 July. “We felt it was the equitable thing to do,” said Dyer, adding that the new appeal panel would be separate from the selection panel that recommended the squad to the BOA.
Harrison added that the BOA had “raised concerns” over the appeal process, and this was a response to that. “It will follow the appeal process as listed on the selection criteria, and will be isolated, removed and independent from the selection panel.” Besides Varnish, who felt that her removal from the squad had deprived her of the chance to take up one of the two women’s sprint slots available, another rider who might be interested in the new process is Dani King, who spoke out during the week about her non-selection alongside Lizzie Armitstead in the women’s road race.
At the launch of the Rio cycling squad on Friday Mark Cavendish was among the 26 riders named, as expected, and it emerged that the Manx sprinter intends to try to finish this year’s Tour de France before travelling to Rio to contest the team pursuit and omnium in search of the Olympic medal that has eluded him in the previous two Games.
“I aim to go to Paris but I will see what happens,” said Cavendish, who would not rule out pulling out of the Tour if he feels his efforts there are prejudicial to his Olympic hopes: “Last year the final four days were so hard that I was in bed for four days afterwards. I can’t afford that before an Olympic Games, so I will take it as it comes. It was never the plan to stop early.”
Other members of the team pursuit squad said they felt Cavendish would be competitive enough in the discipline to line up in one round in Rio as well as riding the omnium. “Until recently he was really quite average,” said the Beijing and London gold medallist Ed Clancy, “but in the last couple of weeks he’s made massive gains. “Given he’s still doing seven-and-a-half- or eight-hour rides on the road at weekends it’s pretty impressive.”
There was an elephant in the room at the Manchester velodrome as the team was announced; Sutton has been a fixture among the team management since before Athens in 2004. Among the riders present most had warm words for the Australian while maintaining that he had been less of a presence since taking over at the head of the team from Sir Dave Brailsford in 2014. “I do miss him,” said the double London gold medallist Laura Trott. “He’s a great person to have on the side of the track shouting encouragement during a hard training session.”
As reported during the week, the men’s sprint squad will include the 20-year old Bedfordshire sprinter Ryan Owens, who has been awarded the team’s “P” accreditation, meaning he can be brought in if one of the sprinters suffers from injury or illness before the event. A 27th member of the Rio squad will be named in the near future, as it was confirmed on Friday that the International Cycling Union had given Great Britain a place in the mountain bike events for either men or women.
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