Britain gets maximum quota for Olympic road race

Great Britain has been allocated five places in the men's cycling road race at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the maximum number allowable.

The maximum Olympic allocation comes on the back of a highly successful year for British riders, which culminated in Mark Cavendish winning the world road race title in September after a host of top-level wins and podium positions.

"This is a very satisfying achievement for us and the contribution of all the riders and the support team has been fantastic," said British Cycling performance director David Brailsford.

"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."

The men's road race takes place on a circuit around Surrey on July 28 2012. Two of the five road race riders will also take part in the cycling time trial three days after the road race, on August 1 in Hampton Court Palace.

Cavendish ranks as one of the favourites to win the Olympic road race title having won the London-Surrey Cycle Classic test event in August.

Other nations to be allocated five places in the Olympic road race are Australia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and USA. France and Denmark qualified for four places, Ireland has three.

A total of 140 riders will take part in the road race, with 40 in the time trial.

Related links

Cycling Weekly's Olympic Games 2012 news page

London 2012 Olympic Games cycling schedule