Strong British MTB Team Heads To Paris Olympics

With two places in both the men’s and women’s XCO MTB, it’s a big year for British mountain biking at the Olympics. Tom Pidcock will be hoping to finish (and win?) the Tour de France on 21st July before joining the Olympic team for the men’s mountain biking on 29th July, and the men’s road race on 3rd August. On 4th August, maybe he’ll be having a lie in and a tub of ice cream in bed? And can he repeat his 2020 Olympic MTB win?

Here’s the official PR from British Cycling:

TEAM GB ANNOUNCES FIRST RIDERS SELECTED FOR PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES

The British Olympic Association (BOA) has today named the first 20 cyclists who will represent Team GB at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The 20 athletes selected include four Olympic medallists and 10 debutants from track, road and mountain bike disciplines with a further six squads to be announced in early-July.

This will be the biggest cycling delegation ever sent to an Olympic Games, as the team prepares to ride for medals across all five event disciplines.

A strong qualifying campaign resulted in Team GB qualifying two women’s and two men’s spots in the mountain bike events for the first time.

Commonwealth Champion Evie Richards will contest the women’s title having made a confident recovery from a recent injury, while rising star Ella Maclean-Howell will make her first appearance at Olympic level.

Another Games debutant will be current under-23 World Champion Charlie Aldridge who will be joined by current Olympic and World Champion Tom Pidcock, who has his sights set on two targets in Paris, as a member of both the mountain bike and road teams.

Joining Pidcock in the road race will be 2023 national road champion Fred Wright, Stevie Williams and Josh Tarling, who all make their Olympic debut.

After a string of blistering time-trial performances, including a European title and a world championship bronze medal, Tarling will also be aiming to make his mark in the time-trial event, alongside Ethan Hayter, who will later transfer to the men’s track endurance squad.

The final week of the cycling competition will see the action head to the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome where Hayter will look to add more Olympic silverware to his collection as part of the five-strong men’s endurance team, joining Ollie Wood, Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Vernon and debutant Dan Bigham, in what is set to be a fiercely contested men’s team pursuit event.

The women’s sprint trio head to Paris having qualified a team sprint squad for the first time since London 2012. Katy Marchant leads the squad into her third Olympic Games, while World and European individual sprint Champion Emma Finucane and teammate Sophie Capewell will make their Olympic debuts on the boards.

Tokyo silver and bronze medallist Jack Carlin heads up the men’s sprint squad for his second Games, alongside debutants Hamish Turnbull and 20-year-old Ed Lowe.

Riders selected in the BMX racing, BMX freestyle park, women’s endurance and women’s road will be announced on Thursday 4 July, to complete the Team GB cycling squad.

Team GB Chef de Mission, Mark England MBE, said: “Team GB has a rich tradition with Olympic cycling, and I am thrilled that we will be taking our largest ever cycling team to Paris.

“It is very exciting to see the next generation of cyclists selected to compete for Team GB in Paris, alongside some of our seasoned Olympians and Olympic medalists in Katy, Tom, Ethan and Jack. I am fully confident that all the athletes selected today will put in some fantastic performances this summer.”

Performance Director for the Great Britain Cycling Team, Stephen Park CBE, said:
“I am delighted for each and every one of the riders we have announced today to represent Team GB in Paris and have no doubt that they will make the nation proud over the 18 days of cycling competition in Paris.

“This group includes four previous Olympic medallists, with Tom Pidcock, Ethan Hayter, Katy Marchant and Jack Carlin all looking to get themselves on the podium once again, while on the other side of the coin I’m proud once again of our work to support & nurture the best of British talent through our performance pathway, and to see 10 debutants announced as part of the squad today.

“We’re blessed with an incredibly talented, passionate and hungry squad of riders, and we are now fully focused on supporting their final preparations so that they can be at their very best come Paris.”

Team GB cycling team:

Men’s mountain bike
Charlie Aldridge
Tom Pidcock

Women’s mountain bike
Ella Maclean-Howell
Evie Richards

Men’s road
Ethan Hayter (TT)
Tom Pidcock
Josh Tarling (TT/RR)
Stevie Williams
Fred Wright

Men’s track endurance
Dan Bigham
Ethan Hayter
Charlie Tanfield
Ethan Vernon
Ollie Wood
Mark Stewart (travelling reserve)

Men’s track sprint
Jack Carlin
Ed Lowe
Hamish Turnbull
Joe Truman (travelling reserve)

Women’s track sprint
Sophie Capewell
Emma Finucane
Katy Marchant
Lowri Thomas (travelling reserve)

Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

More posts from Hannah