Last week the IOC Executive Board took the controversial decision not to include a points race, and BMX freestyle and mountain bike eliminator events for both men and women because of fears that it would lead to an extra financial burden on the Games organisers in Brazil.

Other sports including triathlon, who had hoped to have a mixed relay included; basketball, who had lobbied hard for the inclusion of 3x3, and judo, who were applying to put on a team event involving men and women, also had their hopes of additional disciplines on the Olympic programme dashed.

McQuaid, who is seeking a third term as President of the UCI, admitted the decision was something of a setback but insisted that cycling's global popularity will help see the new disciplines make it on to the Olympic programme in the not too distant future.

He also claims such decisions may be a "challenge" for the new IOC President, who will be elected in September this year, as they work to maintain the appeal of the Olympics.


"The UCI has taken note of this setback, which concerns all the new sports proposed for Rio 2016 rather than for cycling per se," the Irish IOC member told insidethegames.

"One of the many challenges facing the new IOC President will be to make the Olympic programme attractive to a youth audience.

"And in coming years there will certainly be more emphasis on events and disciplines that appeal to young people, accordingly the UCI needs to be ready to adapt.

"As you know cycling plays an important role at the Games and among fans with its four disciplines already on the Olympic programme.

"We are proposing the addition of mountain bike eliminator, the points race on the track BMX freestyle, because they are accessible, spectacular disciplines and especially appealing to youth; all also have an existing culture and easily lend themselves to further development."

X-Games discipline BMX freestyle is a form of stunt riding that can trace its history back to 1975 when teenagers started riding bikes in concrete Escondido reservoir channels in California.

It is now a popular sport in both Europe and the United States.

The mountain bike eliminator, in which four riders compete against each other in each heat, made its debut in 2010 at the German XC Bundesliga before being tested at two UCI events in Dalby Forest and Nové Město na Moravě in Czech Republic the following year.

The format differs from the classic cross country race both in its sprint character and the separation of the race into heats, combing the intensity of head-to-head battles with an all-terrain nature of climbing and descending, its supporters claim.

It was officially integrated into the World Cup in 2012 with the first World Championships being held at Saalfelden in Austria, where the winners were Switzerland's Ralph Näf and Sweden's Alexandra Engen.


Meanwhile, the individual points race, which featured between Atlanta 1996 and Beijing 2008, where Spain's Joan Llaneras and the Netherlands' Marianne Vos claimed the gold medals, was controversially removed for London 2012 as part of the UCI's drive to create gender parity and was replaced by the multi-event omnium.

The omnium replaced the individual pursuit, the points race and the Madison in the Olympics at London 2012 as the mass-start multiple race event was incorporated for the Games, where the men's race was won by Denmark's Lasse Hansen and the women's by Britain's Laura Trott.

The future introduction of the individual points race for both men and women could see the omnium removed.

"The IOC's Executive Board earlier this year gave cycling a vote of confidence when it proposed to maintain cycling in the list of 25 core sports of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games," McQuaid added.

"Cycling's popularity worldwide and massive growth at grassroots level, would have been a couple of the many factors taken into account.

"Therefore we remain confident that new disciplines may be added in the near future."

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