Cycling at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Cycling
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Cycling; at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
	Pictograms from top, left to right: BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing, Road, Mountain and Track cycling.
Venue	Olympic BMX Course; Izu Mountain Bike Course; Izu Velodrome; Musashinonomori Park; Fuji Speedway
Dates	24 July – 8 August 2021
No. of events	22
Competitors	530 from 73 nations
	← 2016 2024 →

Last updated December 12, 2024

The cycling program for this edition was expanded with 4 more events than those held in 2016. BMX freestyle was added in the program for the first time and there will also be a return of Madison events on the track that had been removed from the Olympic program in 2012. The award of the extra events was widely seen as a reward for the agreement of the UCI that the track cycling and mountain bike events be taken out of Tokyo and held in Izu, Shizuoka, allowing for significant costs savings to the organising committee. As Izu was not covered by the state of emergency imposed by the Japanese government, cycling was one of the very few sports at these games that allowed a limited number of local spectators to attend.

Great Britain's stranglehold on the velodrome events slackened for the first time since 2008, with their three golds matched by the Netherlands and six other golds shared among six nations. They also failed to win a road medal for the first time since 2004. Nevertheless, with three golds, three silvers and a bronze inside the velodrome, and a hugely successful mountain bike and BMX campaign outside it (three golds, a silver and a bronze from the six events) for the fourth Olympics in a row, Great Britain topped the medal table in cycling with twelve medals, six gold, closely followed by the Netherlands with twelve medals but five golds. Between them the two top nations won half of all the 22 gold medals on offer in cycling; no other nation won more than one, and aside from 12 medals won by each of the 'Big 2', only the Swiss managed more than three medals in total, thanks to their dominance of the mountain bike podium (winning 4 medals from 6).

During the Games, Jason Kenny and Laura Kenny respectively took the records for the most successful male and female Olympic cyclists in history, Jason with a seventh gold in men's keirin, and Laura with a fifth in women's madison. They also became their nation's most successful male and female Olympians in history.

Venues

Track cycling was planned for a temporary venue in Ariake. To save $100 million in construction costs, it was announced after months of negotiations that the venue for track cycling would be the existing velodrome in Izu.^[7]

The International Cycling Union (UCI) resisted moving track cycling 120 km outside Tokyo to Izu. The UCI feared it would detract from the Olympic experience for both athletes and fans. Eventually, the UCI agreed to change. The Japanese Cycling Federation and local authorities committed to establishing at Izu a multi-sport cycling center, to create local cycling programs, and to develop the cycling sport.^[8]

For road cycling the start and finish were originally planned at the Imperial Palace Garden. Later it was announced that the finishes would be at the Fuji Speedway with the starts of the road races at the Musashinonomori Park.

Venue^[9]	Cluster	Sport	Date^[10]	Medal events	Capacity
Fuji Speedway	Outside Tokyo	Road cycling (finish road races and time trial)	24 – 28 July	4
Izu MTB Course	Outside Tokyo	Mountain biking	26 – 27 July	2
Ariake Urban Sports Park	Tokyo Bay Zone	BMX (freestyle and racing)	29 July – 1 August	4	5,000^[8]
Musashinonomori Park	Heritage Zone	Road cycling (start road races)	24 – 25 July	0
Izu Velodrome	Outside Tokyo	Track cycling	2 – 8 August	12	4,300^[8]

Qualification

Japan, as the host country, received one guaranteed quota place per gender in the BMX Racing, BMX Freestyle, and mountain bike events and two quota places per gender in the road race events (there are no guaranteed places in the road time trial or any track events).

Most of the qualification was done through UCI ranking lists, with some spots allocated through world championship events or continental qualification events.

Participation

Participating nations

Courses

Time trials

Road races

The courses for the men's and women's road races were revealed in August 2018. The races started in Musashinonomori Park in Chofu, western Tokyo with the finish at the Fuji Speedway circuit in the Shizuoka prefecture.

The men's road race was 234 kilometres long with a total elevation of 4865 m. The women's race was 137 km long with a total elevation of 2692 metres.^[11]

The first part of the men's and women's races is identical. The course first passes through the mostly flat outskirts of Tokyo's metropolitan area. After 80 km there is a long climb on Doushi Road with a total elevation of 1000 m. After reaching Lake Yamanakako in Yamanashi and crossing the Kagosaka Pass there is a fast 15 km descent. From here the courses are different for men and women.

After the descent, the men's race heads towards the lower slopes of Mount Fuji, Japan's highest mountain, with a 14.3 km long climb with a 6.0% average incline. The riders then head to the Fuji Speedway section, where they cross the finish line twice before entering the last part of the race, which includes the Mikuni Pass peak at about 30 km to go. This climb is 6.8 km at a height of 1159 metres with an average incline of 10.2% including sections reaching 20%. After the climb, the race returns to Lake Yamanakako and the Kagosaka Pass before finishing on the Fuji Speedway circuit.

The women's race does not include the two tough climbs at Mount Fuji and Mikuni Pass. Instead, the race remains on the Fuji Speedway circuit, where the women ride 1.5 laps before the final crossing of the finish line.

Competition schedule

H	Heats	QF	Quarter-Finals	SF	Semi-Finals	F	Finals

Road cycling orinpitsukuDong Jing 2020Da Hui noZi Zhuan Che rodoresudeDuo Mo niyutaunwoJi Zou suruXuan Shou tachi.jpg — Road cycling

BMX, mountain biking and road cycling^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]
Event↓/Date →	24 July	25 July	26 July	27 July	28 July	29 July	30 July		31 Jul	1 Aug
BMX Freestyle
Men's freestyle									H	F
Women's freestyle									H	F
BMX Racing
Men's racing						QF	SF	F
Women's racing						QF	SF	F
Mountain biking
Men's cross-country			F
Women's cross-country				F
Road cycling
Men's road race	F
Men's time trial					F
Women's road race		F
Women's time trial					F

Track cycling^[12]^[17]
Event↓/Date →	2 Aug			3 Aug			4 Aug	5 Aug				6 Aug		7 Aug		8 Aug
Men's keirin														H		QF	SF	F
Men's Madison														F
Men's omnium								SR	TR	ER	PR
Men's team pursuit	H			SF			F
Men's sprint							H		QF			SF	F
Men's team sprint				H	SF	F
Women's keirin							H	QF	SF	F
Women's Madison												F
Women's omnium																SR	TR	ER	PR
Women's team pursuit	H			SF	F
Women's sprint												H			QF	SF		F
Women's team sprint	H	SF	F

Competitors

Medalists

Medal table

* Host nation (Japan)

Road cycling

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's road race details	Richard Carapaz Ecuador	Wout van Aert Belgium	Tadej Pogačar Slovenia
Men's time trial details	Primož Roglič Slovenia	Tom Dumoulin Netherlands	Rohan Dennis Australia
Women's road race details	Anna Kiesenhofer Austria	Annemiek van Vleuten Netherlands	Elisa Longo Borghini Italy
Women's time trial details	Annemiek van Vleuten Netherlands	Marlen Reusser Switzerland	Anna van der Breggen Netherlands

Track cycling

Men's

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Keirin details	Jason Kenny Great Britain	Azizulhasni Awang Malaysia	Harrie Lavreysen Netherlands
Madison details	Denmark (DEN) Lasse Norman Hansen Michael Mørkøv	Great Britain (GBR) Ethan Hayter Matthew Walls	France (FRA) Donavan Grondin Benjamin Thomas
Omnium details	Matthew Walls Great Britain	Campbell Stewart New Zealand	Elia Viviani Italy
Team pursuit details	Italy (ITA) Simone Consonni Filippo Ganna Francesco Lamon Jonathan Milan	Denmark (DEN) Niklas Larsen Lasse Norman Hansen Rasmus Pedersen Frederik Rodenberg	Australia (AUS) Leigh Howard Kelland O'Brien Luke Plapp Sam Welsford Alexander Porter
Sprint details	Harrie Lavreysen Netherlands	Jeffrey Hoogland Netherlands	Jack Carlin Great Britain
Team sprint details	Netherlands (NED) Jeffrey Hoogland Harrie Lavreysen Roy van den Berg Matthijs Büchli	Great Britain (GBR) Jack Carlin Jason Kenny Ryan Owens	France (FRA) Florian Grengbo Rayan Helal Sébastien Vigier

Women's

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Keirin details	Shanne Braspennincx Netherlands	Ellesse Andrews New Zealand	Lauriane Genest Canada
Madison details	Great Britain (GBR) Katie Archibald Laura Kenny	Denmark (DEN) Amalie Dideriksen Julie Leth	ROC Gulnaz Khatuntseva Maria Novolodskaya
Omnium details	Jennifer Valente United States	Yumi Kajihara Japan	Kirsten Wild Netherlands
Team pursuit details	Germany (GER) Franziska Brauße Lisa Brennauer Lisa Klein Mieke Kröger	Great Britain (GBR) Katie Archibald Laura Kenny Neah Evans Josie Knight Elinor Barker	United States (USA) Chloé Dygert Megan Jastrab Jennifer Valente Emma White Lily Williams
Sprint details	Kelsey Mitchell Canada	Olena Starikova Ukraine	Lee Wai Sze Hong Kong
Team sprint details	China (CHN) Bao Shanju Zhong Tianshi	Germany (GER) Lea Friedrich Emma Hinze	ROC Daria Shmeleva Anastasia Voynova

Mountain biking

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's details	Tom Pidcock Great Britain	Mathias Flückiger Switzerland	David Valero Spain
Women's details	Jolanda Neff Switzerland	Sina Frei Switzerland	Linda Indergand Switzerland

BMX

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's race details	Niek Kimmann Netherlands	Kye Whyte Great Britain	Carlos Ramírez Colombia
Men's freestyle details	Logan Martin Australia	Daniel Dhers Venezuela	Declan Brooks Great Britain
Women's race details	Beth Shriever Great Britain	Mariana Pajón Colombia	Merel Smulders Netherlands
Women's freestyle details	Charlotte Worthington Great Britain	Hannah Roberts United States	Nikita Ducarroz Switzerland

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References

↑ "Cycling BMX Freestyle". Tokyo2020.org. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
↑ "Cycling BMX Racing". Tokyo2020.org. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
↑ "Cycling Mountain Bike". Tokyo2020.org. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
↑ "Cycling Road". Tokyo2020.org. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
↑ "Cycling Track". Tokyo2020.org. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
↑ "Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee". IOC. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
↑ Holthus, Barbara; Gagné, Isaac; Manzenreiter, Wolfram; Waldenberger, Franz (23 April 2020). Japan Through the Lens of the Tokyo Olympics Open Access. Routledge. p. 61. doi:10.4324/9781003033905. ISBN 978-1-003-03390-5. S2CID 214002752.
1 2 3 "IOC approves switch of cycling venues for Tokyo Olympics". USA Today. 9 December 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
↑ "Olympic Venues｜The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games". The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
↑ "Olympic Competition Schedule｜The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games". The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
↑ "Tokyo 2020 unveil cycling road races courses for Olympic Games". Insidethegames.biz. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
1 2 "Schedule - Cycling Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Olympian Database. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
↑ "Cycling (BMX Freestyle) Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
↑ "Cycling (BMX Racing) Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
↑ "Cycling (Mountain Bike) Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
↑ "Cycling (Road) Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
↑ "Cycling (Track) Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.

External links

Results book – Cycling BMX Freestyle Archived 11 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine
Results book – Cycling BMX Racing Archived 11 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine
Results book – Cycling Mountain Bike Archived 9 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine
Results book – Cycling Road Archived 9 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine
Results book – Cycling Track Archived 8 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Tokyo_2020_Cycling_BMX_Freestyle-1] "Cycling BMX Freestyle". Tokyo2020.org. Retrieved 14 July 2021.

[Tokyo_2020_Cycling_BMX_Racing-2] "Cycling BMX Racing". Tokyo2020.org. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2021.

[Tokyo_2020_Cycling_Mountain_Bike-3] "Cycling Mountain Bike". Tokyo2020.org. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2021.

[Tokyo_2020_Cycling_Road-4] "Cycling Road". Tokyo2020.org. Retrieved 14 July 2021.

[Tokyo_2020_Cycling_Track-5] "Cycling Track". Tokyo2020.org. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2021.

[6] "Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee". IOC. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2022.

[7] Holthus, Barbara; Gagné, Isaac; Manzenreiter, Wolfram; Waldenberger, Franz (23 April 2020). Japan Through the Lens of the Tokyo Olympics Open Access. Routledge. p. 61. doi:10.4324/9781003033905. ISBN 978-1-003-03390-5. S2CID 214002752.

[auto-8] 1 2 3 "IOC approves switch of cycling venues for Tokyo Olympics". USA Today. 9 December 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2018.

[9] "Olympic Venues｜The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games". The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 3 January 2019.

[10] "Olympic Competition Schedule｜The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games". The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 3 January 2019.

[course-11] "Tokyo 2020 unveil cycling road races courses for Olympic Games". Insidethegames.biz. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2019.

[Cycling_Schedule-12] 1 2 "Schedule - Cycling Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Olympian Database. Retrieved 1 March 2020.

[13] "Cycling (BMX Freestyle) Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.

[14] "Cycling (BMX Racing) Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.

[15] "Cycling (Mountain Bike) Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.

[16] "Cycling (Road) Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.

[17] "Cycling (Track) Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.

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v t e 2021 in road cycling (men, women)
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