UCI ranking closed, Italia Team wins seven Olympic quotas spots. Clean sweep for women: 4 at Paris 2024
Four women and three men. With the unveiling of the nations' ranking by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the composition of the Italia Team contingent for road cycling at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has been outlined. As of the final ranking set for 17 October, the Italian men's cycling team holds the eighth position in the standings with 11621.9 points. This achievement secures three Olympic slots for the road race, allocated to nations placed between 6th and 10th. Additionally, Italy can field two cyclists in the time trial event in Paris, courtesy of Filippo Ganna's (photo ANSA) second-place finish in the Glasgow 2023 World Championships, the highest-ranking Italian cyclist (15th spot with 2877 points). Meanwhile, all four country quotas available were secured by the Italian women's national team for the road race, placing second with 8456.1 points, surpassed only by the Netherlands. The Italian women's team, led by the top-ranked Silvia Persico (10th with 1933.81 points), also clinched a spot in the women's time trial for Paris 2024. The qualification criteria dictate that nations ranked between 1st and 5th receive four Olympic cards for the road race. Those positioned between 6th and 10th secure three cards, while countries ranked between 11th and 20th are granted two cards. Additionally, one card is awarded to nations placed between 21st and 45th. As France has already won the quotas through the UCI World Ranking by Nations of 17 October, the two quotas per gender reserved for the host country will be reallocated to the best nations above 45th place (with a maximum of one per NOC). By 15 November, the UCI will inform the respective National Olympic Committees and National Federations of the allocated quotas. The NOCs will then have until 15 December to confirm to the UCI whether they wish to take up these quota places. Any unused quotas will be reallocated according to the UCI World Ranking of Nations of 17 October.