Clean Sport

Tokyo 2020 Australian Cycling Guide

25 Jul 2021 | 05:18 PMBy: Xavier Cordier

The Tokyo Olympic Games will offer 22 cycling gold medals over five cycling disciplines, with action to feature every day of the Games between 24 July and 8 August. Tokyo 2020 Schedule

A team of 29 Australian athletes will contest the Games, highlighted by Daniel McConnell, who will become the first Australian to contest four Olympics in Mountain Bike.

Rebecca McConnell, Annette Edmondson, Amanda Spratt, and Lauren Reynolds will become the first Australian women to contest three Games in Mountain Bike, Track Endurance, Road Cycling, and BMX. AOC Team and Athlete Profiles

Catch all the Cycling from the Tokyo Olympic Games on Seven and 7plus: Live, Free and Streaming in HD at the 7plus Olympic Hub at 7Plus Schedule

ROAD CYCLING

There are two events in the road cycling at the Tokyo Olympic Games – road race and individual time trial.

The men's road race will be the first cycling event held at the Games on Saturday 24 July, with the women's road race on Sunday 25 July.

The men's road race will cover a 244km course, including 4,865m of elevation. The women face a 147km course with 2692m of elevation, starting in Tokyo's Musashinonomori Park and incorporating incredible views of Mt Fuji.

On Wednesday 28 July, both the men and women will contest the individual time trials that will see riders take on two laps of the 22.1km course for men and one for women, starting at the Fuji International Speedway.

For more information on what Road Cycling is, click here.

The road cycling team boasts a wealth of international experience headlined by two-time individual time trial world champion Rohan Dennis and dual World Championship medalist Amanda Spratt who return for their third Games.

Richie Porte, who reached the podium at the 2020 Tour de France podium, has been selected for a second Games, while Grace Brown, Tiffany Cromwell, Sarah Gigante, Lucas Hamilton and Jack Haig will make their Olympic debut.

Rider Profiles

Key Dates:

Road Race 24 July 12:00 - 19:15 AEST
Road Race 25 14:00 - 18:35 AEST

Individual Time Trial 28 12:30 - 18:40 AEST

MOUNTAIN BIKE

Mountain Bike Cross-Country will make its seventh appearance as an official Olympic sport at Tokyo 2020. The race will take place at the Izu MTB Course, two hours southwest of Tokyo.

The off-road course measures 4,100 in length with elevations of up to 150m. The men's cross-country race will take place first on Monday 26 July and the women's race will take place the following day on Tuesday 27 July.

For more information on what Mountain Bike is, click here.

Australia will be sending two athletes to Tokyo for Mountain Bike, Daniel McConnell, and Rebecca McConnell. Daniel becomes the first Australian to make four Olympic Teams in Mountain Bike, and Rebecca, the first Australian woman to make three Games in Mountain Bike.

Rider Profiles

Key Dates:

Men's Mountain Bike - Monday 26 July 16:00 – 18:00 AEST
Women's Mountain Bike - Tuesday 27 July 16:00 – 18:00 AEST

BMX RACE

Tokyo will host the fourth ever BMX Race Olympic event which will be held at the Ariake Urban Sports Park in Tokyo. The track is situated close to the Athletes' Village and is in the south of Tokyo, right by the water.

For more information on what BMX Race is, click here.

Competing for Australia in the women's race will be Saya Sakakibara and Lauren Reynolds. Saya will be heading to her first Olympic Games at the age of 21 and will be optimistic after taking out the Tokyo Test event in 2019 at the Ariake Urban Sports Park. Lauren will become the first Australian BMX rider to compete at three Olympics, finishing 15th in London 2012 and 11th in Rio 2016.

In the men's race, Anthony Dean will line up for his second Olympic Games after making the final in Rio 2016. Anthony has been a consistent competitor on the world stage, placing sixth in the last UCI BMX World Championships in 2019 and finishing second and fourth in the UCI BMX World Cup rounds in Australia last year.

Rider Profiles

Key Dates:

BMX Race Quarter Finals - Thursday 29 July 11:00 – 13:00 AEST
BMX Race Semi Finals & Finals – Friday 30 July 11:00 – 13:20 AEST

BMX FREESTYLE

BMX Freestyle will make its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 at the Ariake Urban Sports Park. The event will take place at the same location as the BMX Racing and Skateboarding, right on the water in Ariake.

For more information on what BMX Freestyle is, click here.

Logan Martin and Natalya Diehm will make history as Australia's first Olympic BMX Freestylers when the discipline makes its Games debut in Tokyo. Logan will be heading to his first Olympic games as a world champion after taking out the UCI BMX Freestyle World Championships in France in June. Natayla took out the AusCycling BMX Freestyle National Championships earlier this year and sits in the top ten in the world ahead of Tokyo.

Rider Profiles

Key Dates:

BMX Freestyle Seeding Events - Saturday 31 July 11:10 – 13:20 AEST
BMX Freestyle Finals – Sunday 1 August 11:10 – 13:50 AEST

TRACK CYCLING

At the Tokyo Olympic Games, six different track cycling events – the Sprint, Keirin, Madison, Team Sprint, Team Pursuit, and Omnium – will be contested for both men and women.

The Track Cycling competition will be held at the Izu Velodrome located in Izu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, 120km southwest of Tokyo.

For more information on what Track Cycling is, click here.

Australia will be represented by 14 track cyclists at the Games, including six Olympic debuts, seven who will contest their second Games, while Annette Edmondson and Matthew Glaetzer return for their third time.

Triple Olympian Matthew Glaetzer, Nathan Hart and Matthew Richardson will form the men's team sprint outfit and make up Australia's entries into the individual sprint and keirin. In addition, 2012 Olympic team sprint bronze medalist Kaarle McCulloch will compete in the individual sprint and keirin.

Fellow 2012 Olympic medalist Edmondson will be joined by Ashlee Ankudinoff, Georgia Baker, Maeve Plouffe, and Alexandra Manly in the women's track endurance squad.

2016 Olympian Sam Welsford leads four Games newcomers in Leigh Howard, Kelland O'Brien, Lucas Plapp, Alex Porter in the men's endurance squad.

The final entrants for the Team Pursuit, Madison and Omnium will be announced closer to competition.

Rider Profiles

Key Dates

Monday 2 August 16:30 - 19:30

Women's Team Sprint Qualifying & Finals
Women's Team Pursuit Qualifying
Men's Team Pursuit Qualifying

Tuesday 3 August 16:30 - 19:10

Women's Team Pursuit First Round & Finals

Men's Team Pursuit First Round
Men's Team Sprint Qualifying & Finals

Wednesday 4 August 16:30 – 20.00

Men's Sprint Qualifying & Rounds
Women's Keirin First Round

Men's Team Pursuit Finals

Thursday 5 August 16:30 - 19:50

Men's Omnium Final: Scratch Race, Tempo Race, Elimination Race, & Points Race
Men's Sprint 1/8 Finals, Quarterfinals, & Finals
Women's Keirin Quarterfinals, Semifinals, & Finals

Friday 6 August 16:30 - 20:15

Women's Sprint Qualifying & Rounds
Men's Sprint Semifinals & Finals
Women's Madison Finals

Saturday 7 August 16:30 - 19:25

Women's Sprint 1/8 Finals & Quarterfinals
Men's Keirin First Round
Men's Madison Final

Sunday 8 August 11.00 - 14.15

Women's Omnium Final: Scratch Race, Tempo Race, Elimination Race, & Points Race

Women's Sprint Semifinals & Finals
Men's Keirin Quarterfinals, Semifinals, & Finals

WATCH LIVE ON CHANNEL 7

Catch all the Cycling from the Tokyo Olympic Games on Seven and 7plus: Live, Free and Streaming in HD at the 7plus Olympic Hub at https://7plus.com.au/olympics