Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

For the cycling competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics (postponed to 2021^[1] due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the following qualification systems are in place.

Qualification summary

Nation	Road				Track												MTB		BMX				Total
	Men		Women		Men						Women						M	W	Men		Women		Q	R
	RR	TT	RR	TT	TS	KE	SP	TP	OM	MD	TS	KE	SP	TP	OM	MD			RC	FR	RC	FR
Algeria	2	1																					3	2
Argentina	1																	1	1				3	3
Australia	4	2	4	2	X	2	2	X	X	X		1	1	X	X	X	1	1	1	1	2	1	35	29
Austria	3	1	1						X	X							1	1					9	8
Azerbaijan	1																						1	1
Belarus	1		1	1					X						X								5	4
Belgium	5	2	3	1					X	X					X	X	1	1			1		18	15
Brazil																	2	1	1		1		5	5
Burkina Faso	1																						1	1
Canada	3	1	3	2		2	2	X		X		2	2	X	X		1	2	1		1		26	24
Chile			1														1					1	3	3
China	1		1			1	1				X	2	2				1	1					11	7
Colombia	5	1	1			1	1												2		1		12	10
Costa Rica	1		1																	1			3	3
Croatia	1																						1	1
Cuba			1																				1	1
Cyprus			1																				1	1
Czech Republic	3	1	1			1	1										1	1					9	7
Denmark	4	1	2	1				X	X	X					X	X	1	2			1		17	17
Ecuador	2	1																	1		1		5	4
Egypt															X								1	1
Eritrea	2	1	1																				4	3
Estonia	2	1																1					4	3
Ethiopia			1																				1	1
France	5	1	1	1	X	2	2		X	X		2	2	X	X	X	2	2	3	1	2		32	28
Germany	4	2	4	2	X	2	2	X	X	X	X	2	2	X		X	2	2			1	1	33	28
Great Britain	4	2	2	1	X	2	2	X	X	X		1	1	X	X	X	1	1	1	1	1	1	28	26
Greece	1								X								1						3	3
Guatemala	1																						1	1
Hong Kong	1											2	2		X	X							7	5
Hungary	1																1	1					3	3
Iran	1	1																					2	1
Ireland	3	1							X	X					X	X							8	7
Israel			1	1													1						3	2
Italy	5	2	4	1				X	X	X				X	X	X	3	1	1				23	24
Japan	2		2	1		2	2		X			1	1		X	X	1	1	1	1	1	1	20	16
Kazakhstan	3	1				1	1		X														7	5
Latvia	2	1																	1		1		5	4
Lithuania	1		1								X	2	2		X								8	5
Luxembourg	2		1	1																			4	3
Malaysia						2	2																4	2
Mexico	1		1	1							X	2	2		X		1	1					11	7
Morocco	1																						1	1
Namibia	1		1														1	1					4	4
Netherlands	5	1	4	2	X	2	2		X	X	X	2	2		X	X	2	2	3		3		36	28
New Zealand	2	2			X	2	2	X	X	X		2	2	X	X	X	1				1		21	19
Norway	4	1	2	1											X		1		1				11	9
Panama	1																						1	1
Paraguay			1																				1	1
Peru	1																						1	1
Poland	3	1	3	1	X	2	2		X	X	X	2	2		X	X	1	1					24	17
Portugal	2	2													X			1					6	4
Refugee Olympic Team		1		1																			2	2
Romania	1																1						2	2
ROC	3	1	1		X	2	2				X	2	2		X	X	1	1	1	1	2	1	24	18
Rwanda	1																						1	1
Slovakia	2	1																					3	2
Slovenia	4	1	1															1					7	6
South Africa	3	1	2	1		1	1		X			1	1				1	1	1				15	11
South Korea			1									1	1										3	2
Spain	5	1	2	1					X	X							2	1					14	12
Suriname						1	1																2	1
Sweden																		1					1	1
Switzerland	4	2	1	1				X	X	X							3	3	2		1	1	21	20
Chinese Taipei	1																						1	1
Thailand			1																				1	1
Trinidad and Tobago			1			2	2																5	3
Turkey	2																						2	2
Ukraine	1		1								X	2	2					1					8	5
United States	2	2	4	2					X	X		1	1	X	X	X	1	3	2	2	3	2	30	27
Uzbekistan	1		1																				2	2
Venezuela	1																			1			2	2
Total: 72 NOCs	130	41	67	26	8	30	30	8	20	16	8	30	30	8	21	16	38	38	24	9	24	9	631	530

Legend

• TS – Team sprint
• KE – Keirin
• SP – Sprint
• TP – Team pursuit
• OM – Omnium
• MD – Madison
• RR – Road race
• TT – Individual time trial
• RC – Race
• FR – Freestyle
• Q – Quotas
• R – Riders

Track cycling

Track cycling is done entirely through UCI nation rankings. The quotas per event are as follows:

• Team sprint – top 8 teams per gender
• Team pursuit – top 8 teams per gender
• Madison – all NOCs with a qualified team pursuit, in addition to the next 8 teams per gender (total of 16 teams)
• Omnium – NOCs directly qualifying for Madison, in addition to the next 12 (men) or 13 (women) (21 individuals)
• Sprint – NOCs qualifying in team sprint enter 2 individuals, in addition to the next 7 best-ranked in individual sprint, and the next 7 best-ranked in Keirin (total of 30 individuals)
• Keirin – NOCs qualifying in team sprint enter 2 individuals, in addition to the next 7 best-ranked in individual sprint, and the next 7 best-ranked in Keirin (total of 30 individuals)

Road cycling

Majority of the places in road cycling are attributed through the UCI nation rankings (122 for men, 62 for women), with special provisions for highly-ranked individuals whose nations do not make it. A small number of additional places are available through individual road race continental championships (2 men and 1 woman each for Africa, Americas, and Asia). Host nation Japan has obtained 2 guaranteed spots per gender in the road race. For the road time trial, the NOC must have qualified for the road race. The top 30 (men) or 15 (women) NOCs in the nation rankings may enter a time trial cyclist. The 2019 World Championships also afford 10 places per gender in the time trial. NOCs can have a maximum of 2 time trial entries if they qualify through each of those two methods.

Mountain biking

For mountain biking, 38 spots per gender are allocated. Thirty places will be allocated through the UCI nation rankings and three through continental championships with one each for Africa, Americas, and Asia. One spot per gender has been reserved for host nation Japan. The remaining four spots will be awarded to the top mountain bikers competing at the 2019 UCI World Championships, with two each in the elite and under-23, respectively.

BMX

In the BMX race, twenty-four spots are available for each gender, with one reserved for host nation Japan. Eighteen places will be awarded to the highest-ranked NOCs through the UCI qualification rankings, three through the UCI individual rankings, and the remaining two through the 2020 UCI World Championships. In the BMX freestyle events, nine spots are available for each gender, with one reserved for host nation Japan, six for the highest-ranked NOCs through the UCI rankings, and the remaining two for those competing at the 2019 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships.

Timeline

The following is a timeline of the qualification events for the cycling events at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Event	Date	Venue
Road[2]
2019 African Continental Championships	March 15–20, 2019	Ethiopia
2019 Asian Continental Championships	April 27–28, 2019	Tashkent
2019 Pan American Continental Championships	May 2–5, 2019	Mexico
2019 UCI Road World Championships	September 22–29, 2019	Harrogate
Establishment of the UCI World Rankings by Nations	October 22, 2019	—
Track[3]
Establishment of the UCI Olympic Track Ranking 2018–2020 (at end of 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships)	March 2, 2020	—
Mountain biking[4]
2019 Pan American Continental Championships	April 3–7, 2019	Aguascalientes
2019 African Continental Championships	April 12–14, 2019	Windhoek
2019 Asian Continental Championships	July 25–28, 2019	Kfardebian
2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships	August 28 – September 1, 2019	Mont-Sainte-Anne
Establishment of the UCI Olympic qualification ranking	May 18, 2021	—
BMX[5][6]
2019 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships	November 6–10, 2019	Chengdu
UCI Individual Rankings (BMX race)	June 1, 2021	—
Establishment of the UCI Rankings by Nation (BMX race)	June 1, 2021
Establishment of the UCI Rankings by Nation (BMX freestyle)	June 8, 2021

Road cycling

Men's road race

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
Host nation	—	Japan	1
UCI World Ranking	1 to 6	Belgium  Italy  Netherlands  France  Colombia  Spain	5
	7 to 13	Slovenia  Germany  Australia  Denmark  Great Britain  Norway  Switzerland	4
	14 to 21	Austria  Poland  Ireland  ROC  South Africa  Kazakhstan  Canada  Czech Republic	3
	22 to 32	Ecuador  Portugal  Slovakia  Eritrea  United States  New Zealand  Estonia  Algeria  Luxembourg  Latvia  Turkey	2
	33 to 50	Belarus  Ukraine  Costa Rica  Greece  Romania  Iran  Sweden  Hungary  Venezuela  Japan  Morocco  Azerbaijan  Lithuania  Rwanda  Mexico  Guatemala  Argentina  China	1
2019 African Championships	1 to 2	Namibia  Burkina Faso	1
2019 Asian Championships	1 to 2	Chinese Taipei  Uzbekistan	1
2019 Pan American Championships	1 to 2	Peru  Panama	1
Reallocation of unused quota	—	Hong Kong  Croatia	1
Total			130

* Quota reduced by one to accommodate for the individual qualifiers

Men's individual time trial

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
UCI World Ranking	1 to 30	Belgium  Italy  Netherlands  France  Colombia  Spain  Slovenia  Germany  Australia  Denmark  Great Britain  Norway  Switzerland  Austria  Poland  Ireland  ROC  South Africa  Kazakhstan  Canada  Czech Republic  Ecuador  Portugal  Slovakia  Eritrea  United States  New Zealand  Estonia  Algeria  Iran**	1
2019 UCI Road World Championships	1 to 10	Australia  Belgium  Italy  New Zealand  Great Britain  United States  Estonia  Portugal  Germany  Switzerland	1
Invitational place	1	Ahmad Wais (EOR)	1
Reallocation of unused quota	—	Latvia	1
Total			41

** Qualified as a continental representative

Women's road race

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
Host nation	—	Japan	1
UCI World Ranking	1 to 5	Netherlands  Italy  Germany  United States  Australia	4
	6 to 13	Belgium	3
		Denmark  Canada  Poland  Spain  Great Britain  Norway  South Africa	2*
	14 to 22	Luxembourg  France  Cuba  Mexico  Switzerland  Slovenia  Belarus  Japan  ROC	1*
	Individual top 100	Uzbekistan  Thailand  Trinidad and Tobago  Israel  Finland  Cyprus  China  Austria  Sweden  Colombia  Ukraine  Chile  Costa Rica  Czech Republic  Lithuania  Namibia  Eritrea	1
2019 African Championships	1	Ethiopia	1
2019 Asian Championships	1	South Korea	1
2019 Pan American Championships	1	Paraguay	1
Reallocation of unused quota	—	Canada  Poland	1
Total			67

* Quota reduced by one to accommodate for the individual qualifiers

Women's individual time trial

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
UCI World Ranking	1 to 15	Netherlands  Italy  Germany  United States  Australia  Belgium  Denmark  Canada  Poland  Spain  Great Britain  Norway  South Africa  Luxembourg  Japan**	1
2019 UCI Road World Championships	1 to 10	United States  Netherlands  Germany  Switzerland  Belarus  Australia  Canada  Israel  Sweden  France	1
Invitational place	1	Masomah Ali Zada (EOR)	1
Reallocation of unused quota	—	Mexico	1
Total			26

** Qualified as a continental representative

Track cycling

Track cycling quotas were released by the UCI in March 2020.^[7]

Men's team sprint

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Teams per NOC
2018–2020 Olympic track ranking	1 to 8	Australia  France  Germany  Great Britain  Netherlands  New Zealand  Poland  ROC	1
Total			8

Men's sprint

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
NOCs qualified for team sprint	—	Australia  France  Germany  Great Britain  Netherlands  New Zealand  Poland  ROC	up to 2
2018–2020 Olympic track ranking	1 to 7	Canada  China  Japan  Malaysia  South Africa*  Suriname  Trinidad and Tobago	1
NOCs qualified for Keirin	—	Canada  Colombia  Czech Republic  Japan  Kazakhstan  Malaysia  Trinidad and Tobago	1
Total			30

* Qualified as a continental representative

Men's Keirin

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
NOCs qualified for team sprint	—	Australia  France  Germany  Great Britain  Netherlands  New Zealand  Poland  ROC	up to 2
2018–2020 Olympic track ranking	1 to 7	Canada  Colombia  Czech Republic  Japan  Kazakhstan  Malaysia  Trinidad and Tobago	1
NOCs qualified for sprint	—	Canada  China  Japan  Malaysia  South Africa  Suriname  Trinidad and Tobago	1
Total			30

Men's team pursuit

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Teams per NOC
2018–2020 Olympic track ranking	1 to 8	Australia  Canada  Denmark  Germany  Great Britain  Italy  New Zealand  Switzerland	1
Total			8

Men's Madison

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
NOCs qualified for team pursuit	—	Australia  Canada  Denmark  Germany  Great Britain  Italy  New Zealand  Switzerland	1
2018–2020 Olympic track ranking	1 to 8	Austria  Belgium  Spain  France  Ireland  Poland  Netherlands  United States	1
Total			16

Men's Omnium

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
NOCs directly qualified for Madison	—	Austria  Belgium  Spain  France  Ireland  Poland  Netherlands  United States	1
2018–2020 Olympic track ranking	1 to 12	Australia  Belarus  Denmark  Germany  Great Britain  Greece  Italy  Japan  Kazakhstan  New Zealand  South Africa*  Switzerland	1
Total			20

* Qualified as a continental representative

Women's team sprint

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Teams per NOC
2018–2020 Olympic track ranking	1 to 8	Australia  China  Germany  Lithuania  Mexico  Netherlands  Poland  ROC	1
Reallocation of unused quota	—	Ukraine	1
Total			8

Women's sprint

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
NOCs qualified for team sprint	—	China  Germany  Lithuania  Mexico  Netherlands  Poland  ROC  Ukraine	up to 2
2018–2020 Olympic track ranking	1 to 7	Australia  Canada  France  Great Britain  Hong Kong  New Zealand  South Africa*	1
NOCs qualified for Keirin	—	Canada  France  Hong Kong  Japan  New Zealand  South Korea  United States	1
Total			30

* Qualified as a continental representative

Women's Keirin

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
NOCs qualified for team sprint	—	China  Germany  Lithuania  Mexico  Netherlands  Poland  ROC  Ukraine	up to 2
2018–2020 Olympic track ranking	1 to 7	Canada  France  Hong Kong  Japan  New Zealand  South Korea  United States	1
NOCs qualified for sprint	—	Australia  Canada  France  Great Britain  Hong Kong  New Zealand  South Africa	1
Total			30

Women's team pursuit

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Teams per NOC
2018–2020 Olympic track ranking	1 to 8	Australia  Canada  France  Germany  Great Britain  Italy  New Zealand  United States	1
Total			8

Women's Madison

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
NOCs qualified for team pursuit	—	Australia  Canada  France  Germany  Great Britain  Italy  New Zealand  United States	1
2018–2020 Olympic track ranking	1 to 8	Belgium  Denmark  Hong Kong  Ireland  Japan  Netherlands  Poland  ROC	1
Total			15

Cycling Canada declined to enter a team in the women's madison due to a lack of competitive experience in the event, and the event being prior to the omnium in the Olympic program.^[8]

Women's Omnium

Event	Ranking by Nation	Qualified NOC	Athletes per NOC
NOCs qualified for Madison	—	Belgium  Denmark  Hong Kong  Ireland  Japan  Netherlands  Poland  ROC	1
2018–2020 Olympic track ranking	1 to 13	Australia  Belarus  Canada  China  Egypt*  France  Great Britain  Italy  Mexico  New Zealand  Norway  Portugal  United States	1
Rellocation	14	Lithuania[9]	1
Total			21

* Qualified as a continental representative

Mountain biking

Quotas were released in May 2021.^[10][11]

Men's cross-country race

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
Host nation	—	Japan	1
2020 UCI Olympic qualification ranking	1 to 2	Switzerland  Italy	3
	3 to 7	France  Brazil  Netherlands  Spain  Germany	2
	8 to 21	Czech Republic  Austria  Canada  Denmark  United States  Belgium  ROC  South Africa  New Zealand  Poland  Norway  Greece  Hungary  Romania	1
2019 African Championships	1	Namibia	1
2019 Pan American Championships	1	Mexico	1
2019 Asian Championships	1	China	1
2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships (elite)	1 to 2	Australia  Israel	1
2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships (under-23)	1 to 2	Chile  Great Britain	1
Total			38

Women's cross-country race

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
Host nation	—	Japan	1
2020 UCI Olympic qualification ranking	1 to 2	Switzerland  United States	3
	3 to 7	Netherlands  Canada  France  Denmark  Germany	2
	8 to 21	Great Britain  Italy  South Africa  Poland  Ukraine  Czech Republic  Belgium  Austria  Argentina  Estonia  Brazil  Hungary  Spain  Australia	1
2019 African Championships	1	Namibia	1
2019 Pan American Championships	1	Mexico	1
2019 Asian Championships	1	China	1
2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships (elite)	1 to 2	Slovenia  Sweden	1
2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships (under-23)	1 to 2	Portugal  ROC	1
Total			38

BMX

Racing quotas were released on June 4, 2021.^[12][13]

Men's BMX race

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
Host nation	—	Japan	1
UCI Olympic qualification ranking	1 to 2	France  Netherlands	3
	3 to 5	United States  Switzerland  Colombia	2
	6 to 11	Australia  Great Britain  Argentina  Brazil  Ecuador  South Africa**	1
UCI BMX individual ranking	1 to 3	Norway  Canada  ROC	1
World Championship Re-Allocation	1 to 2	Italy  Latvia	1
Total			24

** Qualified as a continental representative

Women's BMX race

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
Host nation	—	Japan	1
UCI Olympic qualification ranking	1 to 2	Netherlands  United States	3
	3 to 5	France  ROC  Australia	2
	6 to 11	Colombia  Brazil  New Zealand  Denmark  Switzerland  Canada	1
UCI BMX individual ranking	1 to 3	Great Britain  Ecuador  Latvia	1
World Championship Re-Allocation	1 to 2	Belgium  Thailand	1
Total			24

** Qualified as a continental representative

Men's BMX freestyle

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
Host nation	—	Japan	1
UCI Olympic qualification ranking	1	United States	2
	2 to 5	Australia  ROC  Great Britain  France	1
2019 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships	1 to 2	Venezuela  Costa Rica	1
Total			9

Women's BMX freestyle

Event	Ranking by nation	Qualified	Athletes per NOC
Host nation	—	Japan	1
UCI Olympic qualification ranking	1	United States	2
	2 to 5	Germany  Great Britain  Switzerland  ROC	1
2019 UCI Urban Cycling World Championship	1 to 2	Chile  Australia	1
Total			9

References

1. "Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee". IOC. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
2. "Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Road Cycling" (PDF). UCI. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
3. "Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Track Cycling" (PDF). UCI. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
4. "Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Mountain Biking" (PDF). UCI. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
5. "Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – BMX Race" (PDF). UCI. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
6. "Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – BMX Freestyle" (PDF). Retrieved 29 June 2021.
7. "Athletes Quota Places for Track Cycling At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games" (PDF). www.uci.org/. Union Cycliste Internationale. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
8. "Cycling Canada Amended XXXII Olympic Games Team Selection Policy" (PDF). www.cyclingcanada.ca/. Cycling Canada. 5 May 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2021. Due to the risks inherent in the event, its place prior to the Omnium in the Olympic program and the lack of athletes with sufficient competition experience, Canada will not be entering the women's Madison
9. Tokijo olimpinėse žaidynėse dalyvaus dar viena lietuvė: startuos dviratininkė O. Baleišytė
10. "Mountain Bike Athletes quota for Cycling – Mountain Bike men's events" (PDF). www.uci.org/. Union Cycliste Internationale. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
11. "Mountain Bike Athletes quota for Cycling – Mountain Bike women's events" (PDF). www.uci.org/. Union Cycliste Internationale. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
12. "BMX Racing Athletes quota for Cycling – BMX Racing men's events" (PDF). www.uci.org/. Union Cycliste Internationale. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
13. "BMX Racing Athletes quota for Cycling – BMX Racing women's events" (PDF). www.uci.org/. Union Cycliste Internationale. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2021.