ABOUT THE SPORT: Olympic cycling consists of three disciplines - road racing, track and mountain bike - that require different venues.
Officials from the Union Cycliste Internationale, the governing body of world cycling, designed and approved a safe, but challenging Olympic cycling road course in the Athens City Centre, with a start/finish line at Kotzia Square. Mixing modern with antiquity, both men's and women's road race courses will take riders past many historical sites.
Track cycling events will take place on the banked, wooden Olympic Velodrome, which is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava created the dramatic, domed velodrome roof.
Mount Parnitha, in the municipality of Acharnai, will be the venue for Olympic mountain bike racing. Located near the Olympic Village, Acharnai appears to be rocky and fairly technical. Races held there last May featured several tough climbing sections.
Forty-kilometer individual time trials will be held at Vouliagmeni Olympic Centre, the same venue to be used for the Olympic triathlon. The four-man team time trial event has been omitted for now.
U.S. BEST: The men's Olympic road race squad was beginning to resemble the U.S. Postal Service roster, until Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong declined the invitation to race in Athens.
We now have a seemingly unbeatable team of U.S. riders on the road, including Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie, Bobby Julich, Jason McCartney, and Armstrong's replacement, Levi Leipheimer.
According to USA Cycling CEO, Gerard Bisceglia, cyclists Hamilton and Julich will also ride the time trial event. Hamilton's U.S. fans say he is a medal contender, but his body must be able to produce a winning 40-kilometer performance. Hamilton dropped out of the Tour de France on July 17, after he said the climbs in the Pyrenees stages caused his back to lock up.
Mary McConneloug, of Fairfax, Calif. was named to the U.S. Olympicmountain bike racing team, after she and her lawyers won a last minuteappeal, which protested the naming of Sue Haywood. USA Cycling had namedHaywood, but the points were so close that McConneloug felt it was unfair,coming down to the last selection race. A four-hour conference call with USACycling and abritrators produced the decision reversal.
Top Americans on the track team include 2000 Olympic gold medalist sprinter Marty Nothstein and 3,000 meter rider Erin Mirabella.
The three members of the U.S. mountain bike team are: Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Todd Wells and Sue Haywood.
DID YOU KNOW? Hincapie is the only teammate to work for Armstrong in all six of his Tour de France wins. Hincapie also was a member of the U.S. team in 1992, 1996, and 2000.
