The schedule for the cycling events at the L.A. Olympics is now set and, with the UCI’s wildly drawn-out qualification period just months away from opening for mountain bike events, it’s somehow already time to start looking at what could happening in … 2028.
With the schedule released, what looks like it might happen could be very interesting.
A short history of Olympic cross-overs
That may seem like a long ways off, just under 900 days if we’re being specific. But the top riders and national federations have already been to California to scout out potential courses and routes to start narrowing down their strategies, if not specifically their athletes.
The Olympic schedule always two weeks, where events sit in that is slightly different every quadrennial. That changes the opportunities for road riders to double up in track events or in mountain bike. that crossover is something that actually happens quite consistently.
Peter Sagan famously opted to race the mountain bike race instead of road event in 2016 when the Games were in Rio. Tom Pidcock has had arguably the most success mixing a primarily road career with Olympic mountain biking, winning back-to-back gold medals in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. His teammate for the latter, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, has spent her career successfully mixing the two disciplines (and cyclocross. She also has a gravel world title).
L.A. 2028: a schedule that supports the double?
With the L.A. Olympic schedule now public, we have a clearer idea of what pulling off a double would take in 2028. The mountain bike cross country events are schedules for Monday and Tuesday, July 18 and 19. The road races are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday July 22 and 23 (with the TT events a few days earlier). That’s tight, but not impossible. And, as Remco Evenepoel proved in Paris with his TT / road race double, you can win two races on an even tighter schedule.
Unlike a TT / road race double, the XCO / Road Race double requires a more rare athlete. One who can operate at the peak of mountain bike skill and road fitness at the same time. That narrows down the contenders considerably. Here are six athletes, three men and three women, who have potential and some even a very real chance, to pull off a XCO/Road Race double win in L.A.
Tom Pidcock – Great Britain
The obvious front runner for this is Tom Pidcock. He already has two…
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