Why hasn't GB sent a full squad to this year's only Track Nations Cup?

Just eight riders will represent Great Britain this weekend at the year’s only UCI Track Nations Cup round, half the full contingent allowed for the event.

Among the names listed in the squad are Olympic silver medallist Matthew Richardson and recent European triple silver medallist Rhian Edmunds. There will, however, be no British women’s endurance riders competing in Konya, Turkey, and only two men’s endurance riders – Ben Wiggins and Ollie Wood – meaning GB will not take part in either of the team pursuits.

With only one Nations Cup event this year, rather than the usual three, why send such a stripped back team?

According to Katie Archibald, it's a matter of resources. “We got the news just a couple of days ago that we don’t have the budget, or we’re not using the budget to send any women’s endurance riders to Konya,” the former Olympic champion said ahead of last month’s National Track Championships.

“The thing that mainly made me upset from the news was the loss of the prep. I was really looking forward to being with the team down in Manchester and doing the team pursuit unit… When we cut the Konya team, I was like, ‘Ah, I really wanted to be part of that team.’

“I guess it’s just a standard pattern of the Olympic cycle that you dedicate your resources into the pointy end.”

The Great Britain Cycling Team was awarded £30,125,000 in funding for the current Los Angeles Olympics cycle, a record amount for the squad. This money goes towards supporting all aspects of the team over the four years to 2028, including equipment development and competition costs across road, track, mountain bike and BMX.

This weekend’s Nations Cup, despite being the calendar’s only one, comes at an early and inconsequential time in the Olympic cycle. It offers no qualifying points for LA 2028, and is not essential for qualifying for this year’s UCI World Championships in October. Having fielded a rider in every event at the European Championships last month, Great Britain has already qualified a full squad for the Worlds.

In such circumstances, it is not uncommon for nations to skip or send reduced squads to events to save funds.

Great Britain did not send a women’s sprint squad to the final Nations Cup round last year, having already qualified a team for the Olympics. The nation also left its women’s endurance squad at home for last year’s second of three Nations Cups.

For reasons not publicly explained, there is only one Nations Cup this year, compared to the three which have been held annually since the series began in 2021.

“If there were three Nations Cups, we probably would have gone to more than one,” Jon Norfolk, Great Britain Cycling Team head coach, told Cycling Weekly last month. “We probably would have taken one squad to one and one squad to another for different reasons, more racing opportunities, but we’d have spent more budget.

“[Having one Nations Cup] in some ways has simplified what we do a little bit, and you can then work on the longer term stuff. With more training time, what do we want to be working on so we’re more prepared and ready for, say, the World Championships at the end of the year?”

Great Britain is not alone in sending a smaller squad to Konya. Belgium has sent seven riders, while Ireland has sent two. Conversely, Australia has opted to field a full contingent of 16 riders.

The UCI Nations Cup in Konya will take place 14-16 March, and will be shown on Max and Discovery+.

The eight-rider GB squad for the event is below.

Men's sprint

Matthew Richardson
Harry Radford
Harry Ledingham-Horn

Women's sprint

Lauren Bell
Rhian Edmunds
Lowri Thomas

Men's endurance

Ben Wiggins
Ollie Wood