Cycling at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Qualification

For the cycling competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the following qualification systems are in place.

Summary

Track cycling

An NOC is entitled to enter a single team in each of the four team events. An NOC without a team in the relevant team event may qualify up to two places in sprint and keirin, and one place in omnium; an NOC with a team may enter that number from its team resources, for a total of twenty three quota places, an increase from the 2012 games which had a one rider per event limit in sprint and keirin; however, a limit of 15 riders (8 men, 7 women ) is placed on each NOC, with the possibility of drafting in two further riders from other cycling events. For certain countries, therefore, the number of quota places earned will significantly exceed the numbers of riders qualified; in effect, members of team events will 'double up', for team sprint athletes in sprint and keirin, and team pursuit athletes in omnium.

Road cycling

Similarly, the cyclists who compete in the road time trial must also compete in the road race event; thus an NOC may win 2 quota places, but be allowed to take only one rider.

Nation	Road				Track										MTB		BMX		Total
	Men		Women		Men					Women					M	W	M	W	Q	R
	RR	TT	RR	TT	TS	KE	SP	TP	OM	TS	KE	SP	TP	OM
Algeria	2	1																	3	2
Argentina	3	1													1		1	1	7	6
Australia	4	2	4	2	X	2	2	X	X	X	2	2	X	X	2	1	3	2	34	31
Austria	2	1	1												1				5	4
Azerbaijan	1		1								1	1							4	3
Belarus	2	2	1	1										X					7	4
Belgium	5	2	3	2					X					X	2	1		1	18	14
Bolivia	1																		1	1
Brazil	2		2						X						2	1	1	1	10	10
Bulgaria	1																		1	1
Canada	3	1	3	2		1				X	2	2	X	X	2	2	1		22	19
Chile	1		1																2	2
China							1	X		X	2	2	X	X	1	1			11	14
Colombia	5	1	1			1	1		X		1	1			1		2	1	16	15
Costa Rica	1														1				2	2
Croatia	2																		2	2
Cuba			1								1	1		X					4	3
Cyprus			1																1	1
Czech Republic	4	2				1	2								3	1			14	12
Denmark	3	1						X	X					X	1	1	1	1	11	13
Dominican Republic	1																		1	1
Ecuador	1																1		2	2
Egypt												1							1	1
Eritrea	1																		1	1
Estonia	2																		2	2
Ethiopia	1																		1	1
Finland			1																1	1
France	4	2	2	1	X	2	2		X	X	2	2		X	3	2	3	1	30	22
Germany	4	2	4	2	X	2	2	X	X	X	2	2	X	X	2	2	1	1	32	29
Great Britain	5	1	3	1	X	2	2	X	X		1	2	X	X	1		2		24	26
Greece	1					1									1				3	3
Guam															1				1	1
Guatemala	1																		1	1
Hong Kong	1								X		1	1		X	1				6	5
Hungary															1				1	1
Indonesia																	1		1	1
Iran	3	1																	4	3
Ireland	2										1								3	3
Israel			1												1				2	2
Italy	5	2	4	1		1			X				X		3	1			19	19
Japan	2		1	1		1	1		X					X	1		1		10	9
Kazakhstan	2	1							X										4	3
Kosovo	1																		1	1
Laos	1																		1	1
Latvia	2																2		4	4
Lesotho															1				1	1
Lithuania	2		1								1	1							5	4
Luxembourg	1		2	1															4	3
Malaysia						1						1							2	2
Mauritius															1				1	1
Mexico	1		1						X							1			4	4
Morocco	3	1																	4	3
Namibia	1		1													1			3	3
Netherlands	4	2	4	2	X	2	2	X	X	X	2	2		X	1		3	2	31	25
New Zealand	2	1	1	1	X	2	2	X	X	X	2	2	X	X	1		1		20	19
Norway	4	1	1	1												1	1		9	7
Poland	4	2	3	2	X	2	2						X	X		2			20	17
Portugal	4	1													2				7	6
Puerto Rico	1																		1	1
Romania	1																		1	1
Russia	3	1	1	1		1	2	X		X	2	2			1	1	1	1	19	16
Rwanda	1														1				2	2
Serbia	1															1			2	2
Slovakia	1														1				2	2
Slovenia	4	1	1													2			8	7
South Africa	2		2	1											2		1		8	7
South Korea	2		1		X	2	2		X		1								10	8
Spain	5	2	1				1			X	2	2			3				17	12
Sweden			3													1			4	4
Switzerland	3	1	1					X	X						3	2	1		13	15
Chinese Taipei			1											X					2	2
Thailand			1															1	2	2
Timor-Leste																1			1	1
Trinidad and Tobago							1												1	1
Tunisia	1																		1	1
Turkey	2	1																	3	2
Ukraine	3	1	1	1							1					2			9	7
United Arab Emirates	1																		1	1
United States	2	2	4	2		1			X				X	X	1	2	3	2	22	21
Venezuela	2	1	1		X	2	2							X			1	1	10	9
Total: 80 NOCs	144	40	67	25	9	27	27	9	18	9	27	27	9	18	50	30	32	16	581	520

Legend

• TS – Team Sprint
• KE – Keirin
• SP – Sprint
• TP – Team Pursuit
• OM – Omnium
• RR – Road Race
• TT – Individual Time Trial
• Q – Quotas
• R – Riders

Timeline

The following is a timeline of the qualification events for the cycling events at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Event	Date	Venue
Road[1]
2015 African Continental Championships (men)	February 9–14, 2015	Wartburg, South Africa
2015 Asian Cycling Championships (men)	February 10–14, 2015	Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
2015 Pan American Road Cycling Championships (men)	May 7–10, 2015	León, Mexico
2015 UCI Road World Championships	September 19–27, 2015	Richmond, United States
2015 UCI World Tour	October 4, 2015	—
2015 UCI Africa Tour	January 1, 2016
2015 UCI America Tour
2015 UCI Asia Tour
2015 UCI Europe Tour
2015 UCI Oceania Tour
2016 Asian Cycling Championships (women)	January 19–24, 2016	Tokyo, Japan
2016 African Continental Championships (women)	February 22–26, 2016	Casablanca, Morocco
2016 Pan American Road Cycling Championships (women)	May 26–28, 2016	San Cristóbal, Venezuela
2015–2016 UCI World Ranking (women)	May 31, 2016	—
Track[2]
Close of the UCI Olympic Track Ranking 2014–2016 (at end of 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships)	March 6, 2016	London, United Kingdom
Mountain biking[3]
2015 Oceania Continental Championships	February 26–27, 2015	Toowoomba, Australia
2015 Pan American Continental Championships	March 27–29, 2015	Cota, Colombia
2015 African Continental Championships	May 5–10, 2015	Musanze, Rwanda
2015 Asian Cycling Championships	August 12–16, 2015	Melaka, Malaysia
Establishment of the UCI Olympic qualification ranking	May 25, 2016	—
BMX[4]
2016 UCI BMX World Championships	May 25–29, 2016	Medellín, Colombia[5]
Establishment of the UCI Rankings by Nation	May 31, 2016	—

Road cycling

Men's road race

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
Host nation	—	Brazil	2
2015 UCI World Tour	1st	Spain	5
	2nd	Italy	5
	3rd	Colombia	5
	4th	Great Britain	5
	5th	Belgium	5
	6th	France	4
	7th	Netherlands	4
	8th	Australia	3*
	9th	Germany	4
	10th	Norway	1*
	11th	Poland	3*
	12th	Portugal	4
	13th	Czech Republic	3*
	14th	Slovenia	3*
	15th	Switzerland	4
	Individual	Slovakia	1
	Individual	Luxembourg	1
UCI Africa Tour	1st	Morocco	3
	2nd	Algeria	2
	3rd	South Africa	1**
	4th	Eritrea	1**
	Individual	Tunisia	1
	Individual	Rwanda	1
UCI America Tour	1st	Canada	3
	2nd	Argentina	3
	3rd	Venezuela	2**
	4th	United States	1**
	5th	Costa Rica	1**
	Individual	Ecuador	1
	Individual	Guatemala	1
	Individual	Chile	1
UCI Asia Tour	1st	Iran	3
	2nd	Kazakhstan	2
	3rd	Japan	2
	4th	South Korea	2
UCI Europe Tour	1st	Ukraine	3
	2nd	Slovenia	1***
	3rd	Russia	3
	4th	Denmark	3
	5th	Norway	3***
	6th	Poland	1***
	7th	Austria	2
	8th	Belarus	2
	9th	Turkey	2
	10th	Czech Republic	1***
	11th	Lithuania	2
	12th	Estonia	2
	13th	Ireland	2
	14th	Latvia	2
	15th	Croatia	2
	16th	Sweden	2
	Individual	Azerbaijan	1
	Individual	Serbia	1
	Individual	Greece	1
	Individual	Bulgaria	1
	Individual	Romania	1
UCI Oceania Tour	1st	New Zealand	2
2015 African Championships	1st	Ethiopia	1
	2nd	Namibia	1
2015 Asian Championships	1st	United Arab Emirates	1
	2nd	Hong Kong	1
2015 Pan American Championships	1st	Mexico	1
	2nd	Dominican Republic	1
Re-allocation of unused quota		Puerto Rico	1
		South Africa	1
		United States	1
Tripartite Commission Invitation		Bolivia	1
		Kosovo	1
		Laos	1
Total			144

* Quota reduced to the number of riders in the ranking of the respective tour

** Quota reduced by one to accommodate for the individual qualifiers on the same tour

*** Additional quota places earned on the continental tour for countries with quota reduction due to lack of ranked riders on the world tour

Men's individual time trial

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
2015 UCI World Tour	1st	Spain	1
	2nd	Italy	1
	3rd	Colombia	1
	4th	Great Britain	1
	5th	Belgium	1
	6th	France	1
	7th	Netherlands	1
	8th	Australia	1
	9th	Germany	1
	10th	Norway	1
	11th	Poland	1
	12th	Portugal	1
	13th	Czech Republic	1
	14th	Slovenia	1
	15th	Switzerland	1
UCI Africa Tour	1st	Morocco	1
	2nd	Algeria	1
UCI America Tour	1st	Canada	1
	2nd	Argentina	1
	3rd	Venezuela	1
	4th	United States	1
UCI Asia Tour	1st	Iran	1
	2nd	Kazakhstan	1
UCI Europe Tour	1st	Ukraine	1
	2nd	Russia	1
	3rd	Denmark	1
	4th	Austria	1
	5th	Belarus	1
	6th	Turkey	1
UCI Oceania Tour	1st	New Zealand	1
2015 UCI World Championships	1st	Belarus	1
	2nd	Italy	1
	3rd	France	1
	4th	Spain	1
	5th	Netherlands	1
	6th	Australia	1
	7th	Germany	1
	8th	Poland	1
	9th	Czech Republic	1
	10th	United States	1
Total			40

Women's road race

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
Host nation	—	Brazil	1
2016 UCI World Ranking	1 to 5	Netherlands  United States  Italy  Australia  Germany	4
	6 to 13	Poland  Sweden  Great Britain  Canada  Belgium	3
		France  South Africa  Luxembourg	2*
	14 to 22	Russia  Ukraine  Belarus  Finland  Cuba  New Zealand  Mexico  Switzerland  Spain	1*
	Individual top 100	Chinese Taipei  Norway  Brazil  Azerbaijan  Thailand  Austria  Slovenia  Lithuania  Cyprus  Israel  Japan  Chile	1
2016 African Championships	1st	Namibia	1
2016 Pan American Championships	1st	Venezuela	1
2016 Asian Championships	1st	South Korea	1
Re-allocation of unused host quota		Colombia	1
Total			68

* Quota reduced by one to accommodate for the individual qualifiers on the same tour

Women's individual time trial

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
2016 UCI World Ranking	1 to 15	Netherlands  United States  Italy  Australia  Germany  Poland  Sweden  Great Britain  Canada  Belgium  France  South Africa  Luxembourg  Russia  Ukraine	1
2015 UCI World Championships	1 to 10	New Zealand  Netherlands  Germany  Australia  United States  Belarus  Belgium  Canada  Sweden  Japan  Poland  Norway	1
Total			25

Track cycling

Men's team sprint

Teams must be composed of 3 riders.

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Teams per NOC
2014–2016 Olympic track ranking	1 to 9	Germany  France  Netherlands  Great Britain  Australia  New Zealand  Poland  Venezuela  South Korea	1
Total			9

Men's sprint

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
2014–2016 Olympic track ranking	1 to 9	Russia  Colombia  China  Czech Republic  Trinidad and Tobago  Japan  Spain  Russia  Czech Republic	1
NOCs qualified for Team Sprint		Germany  France  Netherlands  Great Britain  Australia  New Zealand  Poland  Venezuela  South Korea	up to 2
Total			27

Men's Keirin

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
2014–2016 Olympic track ranking	1 to 9	Colombia  United States  Malaysia  Russia  Canada  Japan  Greece  Czech Republic  Italy  Japan	1
NOCs qualified for Team Sprint		Germany  France  Netherlands  Great Britain  Australia  New Zealand  Poland  Venezuela  South Korea	2
Total			27

Men's team pursuit

Teams must be composed of 4 riders.

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Teams per NOC
2014–2016 Olympic track ranking	1 to 9	Australia  Great Britain  New Zealand  Germany  Denmark  Switzerland  Italy  Netherlands  China	1
Total			9

Men's Omnium

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
2014–2016 Olympic track ranking	1 to 18	Australia  Colombia  Germany  Italy  Denmark  Great Britain  New Zealand  France  Belgium  Netherlands  Switzerland  United States  Japan  Brazil  Hong Kong  Kazakhstan  Mexico  South Korea	1
Total			18

Women's team sprint

Teams must be composed of 2 riders.

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Teams per NOC
2014–2016 Olympic track ranking	1 to 9	China  Russia  Australia  Germany  Netherlands  Spain  France  Canada  New Zealand	1
Total			9

Women's sprint

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
2014–2016 Olympic track ranking	1 to 9	Hong Kong  Lithuania  Cuba  Great Britain  Azerbaijan  Great Britain  Malaysia  Colombia  Egypt	1
NOCs qualified for Team Sprint		China  Russia  Australia  Germany  Netherlands  Spain  France  Canada  New Zealand	up to 2
Total			27

Women's Keirin

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
2014–2016 Olympic track ranking	1 to 9	Hong Kong  South Korea  Lithuania  Cuba  Ukraine  Colombia  Ireland  Great Britain  Azerbaijan	1
NOCs qualified for Team Sprint		China  Russia  Australia  Germany  Netherlands  Spain  France  Canada  New Zealand	up to 2
Total			27

Women's team pursuit

Teams must be composed of 4 riders.

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified	Teams per NOC
2014–2016 Olympic track ranking	1 to 9	Great Britain  Canada  Australia  China  United States  New Zealand  Italy  Germany  Poland	1
Total			9

Women's Omnium

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
2014–2016 Olympic track ranking	1 to 18	Great Britain  Netherlands  United States  Belgium  Australia  France  Cuba  Belarus  Denmark  Poland  Germany  Canada  New Zealand  China  Hong Kong  Chinese Taipei  Venezuela  Japan	1
Total			18

Mountain biking

Men's cross-country race

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
2016 UCI Olympic qualification ranking	1 to 5	Switzerland  France  Spain  Czech Republic  Italy	3
	6 to 13	Germany  Netherlands*  Australia  Belgium  Canada  Portugal  South Africa  Brazil	2
	14 to 26	Austria  Slovakia  United States  Argentina  New Zealand  Denmark  Sweden  Greece  Israel  Japan  Hungary  Russia  Great Britain	1
2015 African Championships	1 to 2	Mauritius  Rwanda	1
2015 Pan American Championships	1 to 2	Colombia  Costa Rica	1
2015 Asian Championships	1 to 2	China  Hong Kong	1
Oceania	1	Guam	1
Tripartite Commission Invitation	1	Lesotho	1
Total			50

Women's cross-country race

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
2016 UCI Olympic qualification ranking	1 to 8	Switzerland  Germany  Canada  France  United States  Slovenia  Poland  Ukraine	2
	9 to 19	Russia  Norway  Denmark  Belgium  Brazil  Italy  Australia  Sweden  Serbia  Czech Republic	1
2015 African Championships	1	South Africa1  Namibia	1
2015 Pan American Championships	1	Mexico	1
2015 Asian Championships	1	China	1
2015 Oceania Championships	1	New Zealand	1
Tripartite Commission Invitation	1	Timor-Leste	1
Total			30

^1 – South Africa won the continental quotas in men's and women's mountain bike, but decided not to accept them. South African sports confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and Cycling South Africa (CSA) made an agreement on the Rio 2016 Olympics qualification criteria that the Continental Qualification route will not be considered.^[6]

BMX

Men's BMX

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
UCI Olympic qualification ranking	1 to 4	United States  Netherlands  Australia  France	3
	5 to 7	Great Britain  Latvia  Colombia	2
	8 to 13	Argentina  Switzerland  Canada  New Zealand  Brazil  Japan	1
UCI BMX individual ranking	1 to 4	Ecuador  Russia  Germany  Norway	1
2016 UCI BMX World Championships	1 to 3	Venezuela  South Africa  Denmark	1
Re-allocation of unused host quota		Indonesia	1
Total			32

Women's BMX

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
UCI Olympic qualification ranking	1 to 3	Australia  United States  Netherlands	2
	4 to 7	Colombia  France  Venezuela  Russia	1
UCI BMX individual ranking	1 to 3	Belgium  Denmark  Argentina	1
2016 UCI BMX World Championships	1 to 2	Germany  Brazil	1
Re-allocation of unused host quota		Thailand	1
Total			16