British Cycling slashes places on Olympic Podium and Academy programmes due to funding cuts

Mark Cavendish and Simon and Adam Yates are among riders dropped from British Cycling’s Olympic Podium Programme after a cut in funding for the current Olympic cycle. However, six-time Olympic champion Jason Kenny, whose wife Laura recently said may rider before Tokyo 2020, is named in the track sprint squad.

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When British Cycling last updated the list of funded riders towards the end of last year, 14 men appeared in the Olympic Podium Programme road squad, which has now been reduced to eight riders.

Besides Cavendish and the Yates twins, five other riders have been dropped including Tour de France stage winner Steve Cummings, and former British national road champion Peter Kennaugh and the reigning time trial champion, Alex Dowsett.

In the squad for the first time are Dan McLay and Scott Thwaites, joining the likes of Geraint Thomas, winner of the Tour of the Alps last week, and three-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome.

A reduction in the number of riders supported across all disciplines was forced on British Cycling after UK Sport cut its funding from £30 million in the last Olympic cycle to £26 million ahead of Tokyo 2020, despite the country’s dominance of the medal table at Rio.

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The governing body was told that a maximum of 92 riders could be supported instead of the previous 110, and in all has named 87 including members of the junior and senior Olympic academy programmes, with the full list appearing below together with the version released last December.

The funding was also conditional on no male mountain bike or female BMX rider places being provided and at most only five male BMX and four female mountain bike places to remain.

British Cycling performance director Stephen Park stressed that membership of the programme was not linked to potential Olympic or world championship selection.

“Without the continued support from UK Sport and the National Lottery it wouldn’t be possible for our athletes to reach their full potential and we remain grateful for their ongoing support,” he said.

“In order to meet the reduced number of WCP athlete places offered by UK Sport, some tough decisions have been made.

“We have confidence in the processes we’ve put in place to manage the review.

“We’ve been working closely with all riders throughout, taking a personalised approach to the support we’ve offered.”

He said that riders affected were given three working days to appeal, and that they have been given a three-month ‘notice period.’

Parlk described the decision to restrict numbers on the BMX and mountain bike programmes as “disappointing,” but said that commercial backing would ensure affected riders could compete in this year’s world championships in the disciplines.

He also outlined changes to the road programme, where given the salaries male riders command from their teams, funding through the Olympic Podium Programe is less of an issue than it is for those in other disciplines.

“This is a unique and complex programme which includes up-and-coming road riders as well as established Grand Tour stage winners. The review panel took the strategic decision to reduce this squad from 16 down to eight riders.

“We are engaging with the riders who are no longer on the OWCP along with relevant staff to develop a solution which will be membership to an elite affiliate programme.

“There’s still work to be done on the development of this programme but I envisage it will facilitate access to the Great Britain Cycling Team coach and training camps ahead of world championships.”

He added: “It is also important to note that programme membership is considered in isolation from selection to represent Great Britain at World Championships and Olympic Games.

“While the reduction in membership figures is unfortunate, we are pleased with the steps we’ve taken to support athlete welfare through the transition. The plan for each rider was individually managed with full communication and support from GBCT staff every step of the way.”