06.21.07 - Cycling team for 2007 Pan American Games
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Canadian Cycling Association is happy to announce the athletes selected to represent Canada at the 2007 Pan American Games, to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in July.

Canada will send a total of 11 athletes to compete in road, track and mountain bike events. The Games will also include BMX competitions for the first time, but Canada will not enter as the event is too close to the world championships in Victoria, BC.

It is to be noted that the road, track and BMX competitions at the Games do not award international ranking points, so they do not count towards Olympic qualification. The mountain bike event does award a small number of points. As a result, many of Canada’s top athletes opted out of the Games in order to prepare for other objectives.

With this in mind, Canada has picked a team made up of a mix of veteran athletes who will be vying for medals, and younger athletes seeking Games experience with an eye towards the 2012 Olympics. Each athlete will be able to focus on individual performances in Rio without the distraction of qualifying for the Olympics.

* age on day of competition

The Games cycling program includes the mountain bike cross-country (July 14), BMX (July 15), the individual time trial (July 15), track (July 16-19) and the road race (July 21).