When Evelyn Stevens (Boels-Dolmans) missed out on the La Flèche Wallonne win in late April by four seconds to defending champion Anna van der Breggen (Rabo Liv), one of the first things Stevens said beyond the finish line was: “If I had won today, I would be going to Rio.”
Turns out that’s not quite true.
Had Stevens won and been ranked in the top 10 of the UCI Women’s WorldTour rankings, she would have earned automatic selection to the 2016 Rio Olympics with the US team, but Stevens is currently ranked 15th, the second highest-placed American behind Megan Guarnier, who sits in third and has already earned an automatic spot for the road race. While a win at La Flèche Wallonne would have bolstered Stevens’ chances of discretionary selection, the win would not have been an auto-qualifier.
ADVERTISEMENT
“A lot of countries have far more good candidates than they have spots at Rio,” Stevens told Cyclingnews. “We’re not the only ones where the competition is fierce. No other American has finished on the podium at a Women’s WorldTour race this season except for Megan, so I’m hopeful that second place on a hilly course matters.”
Guarnier, like Stevens, rides for the Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team. The Dutch-registered squad put two on the podium at La Flèche Wallonne with Guarnier in third place. The American road champion has had a stellar spring that includes second place at Trofeo Alfredo Binda, another hilly Women’s WorldTour one-day race, fourth place at Tour of Flanders, won by her teammate Lizzie Armitstead, and two wins in hilly Basque Country.
Unlike Stevens, Guarnier rides without the pressure of securing an Olympic berth. Her ticket was stamped last September when she earned the bronze medal at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1TU5sgo
No comments:
Post a Comment