The final teams for the cycling events at the Paris Olympics are coming together, with the host nation France naming Tour de France stage 2 winner Kévin Vauquelin to the team for the men's road race.
Giro d'Italia stage winner Julian Alaphilippe, who skipped the Tour de France with the Olympics in mind, will be one of the home favourites after finishing second overall at the Tour of Slovakia last month.
His newly named teammates include Valentin Madouas - a podium finisher in the Tour of Flanders in 2022 - and European champion Christophe Laporte in the selection made by national coach Thomas Voeckler and announced during the Tour de France rest day in Orléans on Monday.
Vauquelin will also compete in the individual time trial as France's sole entrant.
It will be the first appearance at the Olympics for Vauquelin, Laporte and Madouas. Alaphilippe competed in the road race in Rio.
The Arkéa-B&B Hotels rider claimed a stunning victory on stage 2 of the Tour de France, attacking from the day's breakaway to win the stage over Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility). Earlier in the season, Vauquelin won the time trial in the Etoile de Bessèges and finished second in La Flèche Wallonne.
Classics prowess is expected to be needed to win medals in the Paris Olympics, with the 273-kilometre covering 2,800 metres of climbing culminating in three short laps with a 1-kilometre long ascent in Montmartre (average 6.5% gradient) on each lap.
Voeckler overlooked Bentoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), the second-best ranked Frenchman in the UCI World Rankings behind climber Romain Bardet. Cosnefroy has won four one-day races this season, the overall Tour des Alpes-Maritimes and begged off racing the Tour de France in hopes he would be selected for the team.
The Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider was at peace with the decision as he posted simply "Accept and look ahead" to his social media, before telling his selected compatriots to "be strong".
Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) also won four one-day races including the hilly Trofeo Laigueglia and is the third-best Frenchman in the UCI rankings, but he doesn't have the same Classics pedigree as the selected riders.
Spain took a balanced approach to their selection, also announced today, choosing three riders from the Tour de France start list.
Star young climber Juan Ayuso made the selection along with rouleur Oier Lazkano and versatile sprinter Alex Aranburu. Ayuso will compete in the individual time trial on July 27.
Ayuso won the time trial in Tirreno-Adriatico this year, although it was significantly shorter than the flat 32.4-kilometre route of the Olympic time trial. He also won Itzulia Basque Country and is currently one of the key riders supporting Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France.
Lazkano is arguably the best Classics rider of the current generation of Spanish pros, having won the Clásica Jaén this year, finished third at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and managed a podium at Dwars door Vlaanderen in 2023.
Alex Aranburu is the reigning Spanish road champion with three Vuelta a España stage wins to his name.
All three Spanish rider will be making their debut in the Olympic Games.
