2012 Olympic Track Long Team announced

USA Cycling announced Thursday the 19 athletes in the discipline of track cycling who are eligible to be nominated to represent the United States of America at the 2012 Olympic Games.

As part of its Olympic Team nomination process, USA Cycling names a Long Team of eligible athletes in the discipline of track cycling. This will serve as a pool of riders from which the Olympic Team will be selected.

Women’s Track Long Team

In the discipline of track cycling, 11 female athletes comprise the Long Team, one of which met the automatic nomination criteria. Sarah Hammer(Temecula, Calif./OUCH Pro Cycling) earned an automatic nomination on three accounts. Hammer placed within the top three (second) in the women’s omnium at the 2011 UCI Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, and she also won two omniums at 2011 UCI Track World Cup events (Manchester, Great Britain, and Cali, Colombia).

Four endurance women join the 2012 Olympic Long Team as discretionary selections, including the two riders who, with Hammer, earned a silver medal in the Team Pursuit at the 2011 UCI Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, Dotsie Bausch (Irvine, Calif./OUCH Pro Cycling) and Jennie Reed (Seattle, Wash./OUCH Pro Cycling). Also on the Long Team are Cari Higgins (Boulder, Colo./Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY 12), who placed sixth in the Points Race in Apeldoorn, and Lauren Tamayo (Asheville, N.C./Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY 12), who, with Bausch and Hammer, helped establish the world record in the Women’s Team Pursuit at the 2010 Pan American Games in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Tamayo is also a member of the 2012 women’s road Long Team.

Additionally, six female sprinters were discretionary selections to the Long Team. Jennifer Valente (San Diego, Calif./GS Adams Avenue Bicycles) was selected after winning the Women’s Scratch Race at the 2011 Junior Track World Championships in Moscow, Russia, in August. Elizabeth Carlson (Jim Thorpe, Pa./Black Dog Professional Cycling Team) and Madalyn Godby (Louisville, Colo./enCompass Racing), teamed up to finish fourth in the Women’s Team Sprint at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, before being chosen for the Olympic Long Team.Cristin Walker (Houston, Texas/Momentum Coaching Group p/b Atomic) teamed up with Tela Crane (Sammamish, Wash./Broadmark Capital) to finish second to Carlson and Godby in the Women’s Team Sprint at the 2011 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships. Dana Feiss(Telford, Pa./Home Depot Center Team) placed 19th in the Women’s Keirin at the first UCI Track World Cup of the season in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Men’s Track Long Team

Each of the eight men selected for the Long Team were discretionary selections. All five riders who represented the United States of America at the 2011 UCI Track World Championships have been selected for the Long Team: Michael Blatchford (Cypress, Calif./Project London 2012), Bobby Lea (Topton, Pa./Pure Energy Cycling-ProAirHFA), Kevin Mansker (Long Beach, Calif./Project London 2012), Giddeon Massie (Cypress, Calif./Bike Religion) and Dean Tracy (Portland, Ore./Project London 2012). Blatchford, Lea and Massie bring valuable experience as each competed in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Mansker finished seventh in the team sprint at the most recent UCI Track World Cup along with Blatchford and Jimmy Watkins (Bakersfield, Calif./Project London 2012), who also earned a discretionary nod to the Long Team. At the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, Watkins placed fourth in the Keirin and contributed to the American team earning a silver medal in the Men’s Team Sprint as he combined with Tracy and Blatchford to set the current Team Sprint (750 m) national record (43.036). Two-time Pursuit world champion and 2010 world championship bronze medalist in the Omnium Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo./BMC Racing Team), who is also vying for a spot on the United States’ road cycling team at the 2012 Olympic Games, is the seventh man named to the Long Team. T.J. Mathieson (Redondo Beach, Calif./Momentum Coaching Group p/b Atomic), who finished 11th in the Time Trial at the UCI Track World Cup in Cali, Colombia, was also a discretionary selection.

The Long Team rosters for men’s and women’s mountain bike cycling along with the women’s road were named on Dec. 1. The Long Team for men’s BMX will be announced on May 31, 2012, in advance of the June 16 BMX Olympic Trials in Chula Vista, Calif. The women’s BMX selection process does not include the naming of a Long Team.

The selection process of athletes to the men’s road squad does not include the naming of a Long Team. Instead, the team that will represent the United States in London will be determined by competitive results at major international events throughout the 2011 and 2012 racing seasons. To date none has yet met the automatic nomination criteria.

All of USA Cycling’s team selection criteria can be found on USA Cycling’s Team Selection webpage.

2012 U.S. Olympic Long Team (Track)

Women

Dotsie Bausch (Irvine, Calif./OUCH Pro Cycling)

Elizabeth Carlson (Jim Thorpe, Pa./Black Dog Professional Cycling Team)

Tela Crane (Sammamish, Wash./Broadmark Capital)

Dana Feiss (Telford, Pa./Home Depot Center Team)

Madalyn Godby (Louisville, Colo./enCompass Racing)

Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif./OUCH Pro Cycling)*

Cari Higgins (Boulder, Colo./Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY 12)

Jennie Reed (Seattle, Wash./OUCH Pro Cycling)

Lauren Tamayo (Asheville, N.C./Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY 12)

Jennifer Valente (San Diego, Calif./GS Adams Avenue Bicycles)

Cristin Walker (Houston, Texas/Momentum Coaching Group p/b Atomic)

Men

Michael Blatchford (Cypress, Calif./Project London 2012)

Bobby Lea (Topton, Pa./Pure Energy Cycling ProAirHFA)

Kevin Mansker (Long Beach, Calif./Project London 2012)

Giddeon Massie (Cypress, Calif./Bike Religion)

T.J. Mathieson (Redondo Beach, Calif./Momentum Coaching Group p/b Atomic)

Taylor Phinney (Boulder, Colo./BMC Racing Team)

Dean Tracy (Portland, Ore./Project London 2012)

Jimmy Watkins (Bakersfield, Calif./Project London 2012)

*Automatic Nomination