Tactically it may not be a bad call for them actually. I think it mirrors their approach from 2023 season where they missed the first round and appeared in rounds 2 and 3 (but could be wrong on that)
As it is, they can only count 2 Nations Cup results and with round 2 being in Hong Kong it is safe to assume they will be there and I think the expectation is that Milton will the weakest round of the three as it is the last in the series and by then nations who rely on their road cyclists as part of their squad may not be putting out their strongest teams.
Realistically, unless something goes horribly, horribly wrong, GB will finish above both Belgium and China but by playing smart, I think China believe that they can sneak ahead of Belgium.
The GB Team seem to be focused on the Milton round as well - comments from Ethan Vernon on BBC Sport site after Gold at the Euros:
"It is one of the last races we will do against the guys here, so it is nice to take a good time and take some confidence going into Paris," Vernon said.
"A few of us are going off onto the road now with our teams, so we are not going to be back together for a few months.
"It was nice to have a high like that before we go off and do our own things for a bit, then come back for the last Nations Cup... I think it will get better going into Paris."
Seems remarkably confident, almost cocky, that they are as good as qualified even before the Nations Cup starts. I have a bad feeling about this....
Don’t understand the latest Olympic Rankings on the UCI site - apparently as at 16/1/24, but no points from last week’s Euros? Anyone else think this is wrong, or just me? I am as curious as the others above to see how the actual results amend the GB position, but seems they have dropped two places to 13th.
Do all three 2022/23/24 World Championships count toward the Olympic Ranking or is it just the 2023 event? (I am reading the head of section D1. of the Qualification document.) I am a bit confused by the wording when it uses the word "includes", which implies there might be others to count as well.
Why not say it like that then? I thought that was the case, but was curious whether others agreed or not. I was trying to work out how they got to a maximum of 8 men/7 women, so this also supports Team Pursuit x 4 plus Team Sprint x 3/2 plus Omnium x 1. Anyway, the end of 2018/19 season rankings should be coming out in the next day or so incorporating the 2019 WChamps, so we will be halfway there now.
Has anyone worked out how the Omnium, Madison and Team Pursuit tie in? If an NOC qualifies as top 8 for Team Pursuit, they get an automatic entry into the Madison - I get that. Does that mean they also get an entry into the Omnium as well? Teams "directly qualified in the Madison event" get a place in the Omnium as well, and the rankings for the Omnium is supposed to exclude those who "have not directly qualified any quota places in Madison". So what does that mean for the Team Pursuit qualifiers? Do they go into the Madison rankings for these purposes? I feel like I am disappearing into a vortex trying to work this out.
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Thanks Rafa - helpful analysis. Of course, not finishing is what got GB into this situation in the first place.
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