Cycling Canada explains road cyclists’ omission from Commonwealth Games team

While the nation celebrates two bronze medals from the men’s and women’s team pursuit at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, any chances for a repeat on the road could be a tall task for Cycling Canada. The national cycling federation fielded an 18-rider team on the Gold Coast, of three mountain bikers and 15 track riders some of whom will pull double duty on the road and track like road national champion and Rio Olympic bronze medalist Allison Beveridge. Men’s national champion Matteo Dal-Cin will not get a chance to represent Canada at the international competition.

“Without a doubt, I would like to represent my country and wear the Canadian national jersey at the Commonwealth Games this year,” 27-year-old Dal-Cin told Canadian Cycling Magazine during Le Tour de Langkawi last month. “But the decision to invite — or not invite — road cyclists is not mine to make and I can only support the decisions made by Cycling Canada at this time.”

Rally teammate and fellow Canadian Adam de Vos shared in Dal-Cin’s patriotic pride and eagerness to race in international competition.

“I can’t really comment too much on the specifics of the selection process,” said the Langkawi stage winner and two-day race leader. “I would love to go to Australia and any time I am able to represent Canada I am always happy to do it.”

While Canada field a road team with riders who also ride track with strong credentials like national champion Annie Foreman-Mackey (The Cyclery), Steph Roorda (Twenty20 p/b ShoAir) and Adam Jamieson (Silber Pro Cycling), the team didn’t select any dedicated road cyclist for the time trial and road race on the Gold Coast.

According to the federation, several factors went into the selection process and lack of road cyclist inclusion.

“The main reason for our focus on track is the level of competition in the track events at the Commonwealth Games. Commonwealth nations – Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand – are some of the strongest in the world in track cycling,” Cycling Canada high performance director Kris Westwood explained to CCM via email. “This level of competition is a perfect opportunity to measure our track athletes against their key competitors in an environment that allows us to test jet lag strategies and heat management, at the same time as giving some of our younger athletes a taste of a games environment so they are not overwhelmed when they get to Tokyo.

“However, a full track team is made up of 15 athletes (five women’s endurance, five men’s endurance, three men’s sprint and two women’s sprint),” he continued. “This created a problem because this year, for the first time, Commonwealth Games Canada has capped our total cycling quota at just 18 athletes. In past editions, we were able to send essentially as many athletes as we wanted.

“With 15 spots used up for track, that left just three spots, which we chose to fill with mountain bikers (two women and one man) because we have highly competitive athletes who have targeted this event, including the silver medalist from Glasgow 2014.

“Canada has won at least one mountain bike gold medal in each edition of the Games since the discipline was introduced, and we are hoping to continue that tradition.”

According to Westwood, timing was an additional consideration in the ultimate decision-making process.

“Another factor we took into consideration was the fact that, because the Games are in the southern hemisphere, they are being held early in the year during a period that conflicts with the busiest part of the Spring Classics season in Europe,” he said. “That means our top road racers are not available to compete in the Gold Coast due to their trade team commitments.

“We would, of course, prefer to bring some road athletes to the Games, but after considering all of the factors above we decided to focus on track and mountain bike for this edition.”

Three-time Canadian Olympian and 1998 Commonwealth Games gold medallist time trialler and bronze medallist roadie Eric Wohlberg is hopeful but saddened by the lack of road presence.

“They’ve put a lot of emphasis on the track right now, which gives us some medal potential for sure,” said the Rally sports director. “But at the road events, we will be weaker.”

With the men’s and women’s individual time trials starting on Monday (Tuesday, April 10 AEST) and road races on Friday (Saturday, April 14),  Canada will rely on non-roadie resources to vie for medals — at least for now.

“Each Games is unique because of location and timing, the qualification process, team quotas, and the characteristics of the courses,” Westwood concluded. “We need to tailor our team selection to those factors.

“The approach we take to the 2019 Pan American Games and the 2020 Olympic Games will not be the same as the approach we took to this year’s Commonwealth Games.”

Aaron S. Lee (@aaronshanelee) is a cycling and triathlon columnist for Eurosport and a guest contributor to Canadian Cycling Magazine.