Cycling 2011: Great Britain set to overtake Australia?
That Australia won the Cycling Global Cup in 2011, for the third year in a row, is not a huge surprise.
Through their superior Track performances (they were 90 points ahead of France in the Track Cycling ranking) and no less impressive Road performances, eg Cadel Evans winning the Tour de France and Matt Goss’ second place in the World Championships in Denmark, the Oz have once again topped the ranking with 374 points (there are no more GSN Cycling events this year).
However, the competition is closing in: Australia won 2009 with an 84 points margin over France, which was reduced in 2010 to 32 points over Great Britain. And in 2011 the Brits further narrowed the margin to a mere 24 points. Will the Olympic year bring about the title for Great Britain’s cyclists?
The impressive fact about Great Britain’s performances is excellence in all leading cycling categories. Leaving aside Cyclo-cross (neither Oz nor GBR in the top 8, the ranking being Belgium, Czech Republic, Netherlands) and BMX (no GBR, Oz in fourth place behind France, New Zealand and Colombia), the British have a very balanced record, which speaks well of their all-round Cycling effort.
Whilst Australia earned 68% of their 2011 points from Track Cycling, GBR scored 36,6% from Road Cycling, where they topped the chart thanks to Mark Cavendish’s burning sprint, 41,7% from Track Cycling, putting them third behind Australia and France, and 21,7% from Mountain Bike, where they were second behind France and well ahead of Australia in 7th place.
The promise of UK Cycling is strength in depths, and the scene is set for a truly entertaining year 2012.
