The Thai cycling federation has mapped out plans to send cyclists to accumulate qualifying points for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles across all four disciplines: road, track, mountain biking, and BMX racing. The women's road team will kick off their campaign at the "Biwase Tour of Vietnam," while the men's team will compete in the "Tour de Taiwan." Afterwards, both teams will return to contest the "Tour of Thailand 2026" in Nong Khai and Udon Thani provinces. Meanwhile, "Sergeant Major Muek" expressed concern over the track cycling discipline, which requires sending riders to numerous events to gather points, incurring very high costs. Despite limited budgets, the cycling federation remains committed to advancing the plan to develop Thai cycling to compete internationally.
"Sergeant Major Muek," General Decha Hemkrasri, Vice President of the Asian Cycling Confederation (ACC), President of the ASEAN Cycling Federation (ACF), and President of the Cycling Association of Thailand under Royal Patronage, revealed that the International Cycling Union (UCI) has announced the qualification system for cyclists to participate in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, USA, across all four disciplines: road, track, mountain biking, and BMX racing. The qualification period for BMX racing runs from 2026 until June 2028.
General Decha stated that the core of the Olympic qualification across all four disciplines remains focused on an accumulated points system. Thai cyclists' qualification success for the 2024 Paris Olympics in road and track cycling came through accumulating qualifying points, securing quota spots in men's road race, women's road race, women's individual time trial, and men's track events like keirin and individual sprint. BMX racing secured a quota through "Jao Ae" Sgt. Gometh Sukprasert, who won the 2022 Asian Championship.
"To accumulate points for the 2028 Olympic Games qualification in the first half of 2026, the women's road team is scheduled to compete in the Biwase Tour of Vietnam from 4 to 8 March, marking their first event. They will then participate in the Women's Tour of Thailand 2026, a road race in Nong Khai province from 31 March to 2 April. The men's team will compete in the Tour de Taiwan from 15 to 19 March, followed by the Tour of Thailand 2026 in Nong Khai from 24 to 29 March," General Decha explained.
General Decha added that the short-distance track cycling team, consisting of "TJ" Jai Angsuthasawit, "Nao" Police Lieutenant Colonel Narasetthada Bunma, and "Makham" Police Senior Sergeant Major Yuenyong Phetcharat, will compete in three key events: the 2026 Asian Track Cycling Championships at the Tagaytay Velodrome in the Philippines from 25 to 31 March; followed by two World Cup stages in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from 17 to 19 April and at the Nilai Velodrome in Malaysia from 24 to 26 April. The Thai cyclists aim to accumulate enough points to qualify for the 2026 Track Cycling World Championships in Shanghai, China, from 14 to 18 October.
"Sergeant Major Muek" further explained that the track cycling Olympic qualification criteria are complex, essentially a qualification within a qualification. Only points earned from continental championships, World Cups, and the Track Cycling World Championships count towards the 2028 Olympic qualification ranking. The Asian Track Championships are the only event granting automatic entry rights. For World Cups and World Championships, only riders with high world rankings are eligible to compete. Therefore, Thai cyclists must strive to accumulate maximum points in various international competitions; otherwise, their chances for Olympic quotas will diminish. Missing out on World Cup events, which have 2 to 4 stages each season, as well as the annual World Championships, which carry high point coefficients, would severely impact their qualification prospects.
General Decha acknowledged that the points-based Olympic qualification system poses significant challenges for the Thai cycling federation because international competition participation requires substantial budgets, while available funding is limited. This issue affects not only road and track disciplines but also the mountain biking and BMX racing teams, which will begin their Olympic points campaigns in June. At the same time, the federation is responsible for developing cycling at all levels within Thailand, including organizing domestic competitions to discover new talent for the national team. These tasks demand considerable annual funding but cannot be neglected, as they form part of a strategic plan essential to advancing Thai cycling onto the international stage," General Decha concluded.