The quotas have been allocated in the men’s road race and time trial with the conclusion of the world and continental tours. In total, 54 nations have received at least one quota from the various tours. Quotas were given out based on the team rankings. Other factors which determine a change of the number of quotas are nations cannot gain more quotas than they had riders in the tour and nations cannot earn continental quotas if they have already reached the maximum quotas from their world tour rankings. The 2015 Nations Tour Rankings were calculated by adding up the points collected by their athletes over various races held between January 1st and December 31st 2015.
In the World Tour the top 5 nations were given 5 quotas to compete in the road race while nations ranked 6th to 15th were given four. In addition all 15 nations were given a spot to compete in the time trial by one of their road race qualified athlete. Nations which have not qualified in the world or continental team rankings were given a single quota to compete in the road race.
Spain, led by individual leader Alejandro Valverde Belmonte was the highest ranked nation, finishing over 800 points above Italy whom narrowly finished ahead of Colombia and Great Britain. Belgium rounded out the top five nations earning 5 quotas. Nations ranked 6th to 15th were France, Netherlands, Australia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Switzerland. However, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia had fewer than four athletes competing in the tour meaning Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia received three quotas while Norway only received one. The unallocated quotas were first reallocated to individual nations which competed in the World Tour, but did not qualify in any team rankings, specifically Slovakia and Luxembourg while the other four will be reallocated at a later date to nations not yet qualified.
The African Tour gave the top nation 3 quotas and nations ranked 2nd to 4th 2 quotas to the road race. In addition any athlete in the top 10 not from an already qualified nation was given a spot with the bottom ranked nations losing a quota. Also the top two nations were given a spot to compete in the time trial by one of their road race qualified athlete.
Morocco, led by individual leader Salaheddine Mraouni was the highest ranked nation and was given three quotas. Algeria, South Africa and Eritrea rounded out the top four. Individual fourth place Rafaa Chtioui of Tunisia and ninth place Janvier Hadi of Rwanda qualified a single quota for their respective nations. Due to this South Africa and Eritrea only qualified a single quota.
The America Tour gave the top three nations 3 quotas and nations ranked 4th to 5th 2 quotas to the road race. In addition any athlete in the top 20 not from an already qualified nation was given a spot with the bottom ranked nations losing a quota. Also the top four nations were given a spot to compete in the time trial by one of their road race qualified athlete.
The America Tour was won by Colombia, however, they had already qualified the maximum athletes from the World Tour meaning second place Canada, Argentina, Venezuela, United States and Brazil were the top five eligible nations. In the top 20 there were athletes from Ecuador, Guatemala and Chile meaning they were given a spot to compete causing a reduction of one quota for Brazil, the United States and Venezuela. Also because Brazil qualified one athlete one of its host quotas has been allocated to the next best team meaning Costa Rica also qualified one athlete.
The Asian Tour gave the top nation 3 quotas and nations ranked 2nd to 4th 2 quotas to the road race. In addition any athlete in the top 10 not from an already qualified nation was given a spot with the bottom ranked nations losing a quota. Also the top two nations were given a spot to compete in the time trial by one of their road race qualified athlete.
Iran was by far the strongest nation in the Asian Tour as they finished over 1000 points ahead of its next competitors. The rest of the Olympic qualified nations were Kazakhstan, Japan and South Korea. There were no athletes in the top 10 that were eligible to take an individual quota meaning there was no reduction to the other nations.
The Oceania Tour gave the top nation 2 quotas. In addition any athlete in the top 3 not from an already qualified nation was given a spot with the top nation only receiving one quota. Also the top nation was given a spot to compete in the time trial by one of their road race qualified athlete.
With Australia already qualified New Zealand was the only nation eligible to qualify. They would however go and earn their spot as three of their athletes occupied the top 3 individuals causing New Zealand to easily outranked Australia in the nation rankings.
The European Tour gave the top six nations 3 quotas and nations ranked 7th to 16th 2 quotas to the road race. In addition any athlete in the top 200 not from an already qualified nation was given a spot with the bottom ranked nations losing a quota. Also the top six nations were given a spot to compete in the time trial by one of their road race qualified athlete.
In a tight battle it was Italy whom topped the rankings by barely finishing ahead of Belgium. However, both nations were already qualified from the World Tour. The top six eligible nations were Ukraine, Slovenia, Russia, Denmark, Norway and Poland. While Slovenia, Norway and Poland already qualified athletes from the World Tour they were unable to fill the maximum quota due to having fewer riders than the maximum quota, meaning they are able to win quotas in this tour. This means Slovenia and Poland only qualified one quota each, but Norway was still able to qualify the three spots. Also since Slovenia, Norway and Poland already qualified a time trial spot from the World Tour the time trial spots for the European Tour went to the next ranked nations, specifically Austria, Belarus and Turkey.
The nations ranked 7th to 16th were Austria, Belarus, Turkey, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Croatia and Sweden. As with Slovenia, Norway and Poland the Czech Republic was able to use the European Tour to fill out its maximum quota from the World Tour meaning they only earned one quota here. The five extra quotas were reallocated to the individuals of not yet qualified nations ranked in the top 200. The nations earning a single quota were Azerbaijan, Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania.
The publications of the rankings have caused reallocations in other qualifying events. Firstly the United States has lost its time trial quota earned in the World Championship because they have only qualified one athlete and the nation already has a time trial spot. The spot has been reallocated to the next eligible nation, Portugal. The African, Asian and Pan American Championships have also had reallocations due to nations qualifying through the tours. The African Championship spots now go to Ethiopia and Namibia, the Asian Championship spots now go to United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong and the Pan American Championship spots now go to Dominican Republic and Mexico.
Outside of reallocation spots the quotas for the men’s road race and time trial have been determined. The women’s spots will be allocated at the end of their World Tour to be finished at the end of May.
Quotas by Nations
- Belgium – 5
- Colombia – 5
- Great Britain – 5
- Italy – 5
- Spain – 5
- Australia – 4
- France – 4
- Germany – 4
- Netherlands – 4
- Norway – 4
- Poland – 4
- Portugal – 4
- Slovenia – 4
- Switzerland – 4
- Argentina – 3
- Canada – 3
- Czech Republic – 3
- Denmark – 3
- Iran – 3
- Morocco – 3
- Russia – 3
- Ukraine – 3
- Algeria – 2
- Austria – 2
- Belarus – 2
- Croatia – 2
- Estonia – 2
- Ireland – 2
- Japan – 2
- Kazakhstan – 2
- Latvia – 2
- Lithuania – 2
- New Zealand – 2
- South Korea – 2
- Sweden – 2
- Turkey – 2
- Venezuela – 2
- Azerbaijan – 1
- Brazil – 1
- Bulgaria – 1
- Chile – 1
- Costa Rica – 1
- Ecuador – 1
- Eritrea – 1
- Greece – 1
- Guatemala – 1
- Luxembourg – 1
- Romania – 1
- Rwanda – 1
- Serbia – 1
- Slovakia – 1
- South Africa – 1
- Tunisia – 1
- United States – 1
References
Road to the Olympics 