Selection criteria for Atlanta requires road cyclists to compete in at least two of the three designated selection races. And after competing in the first event, the Tour of Tasmania in January, Stephens had planned to clinch his Olympic place in Saturday's selection time trial on the Isle of Man.
But his Spanish ONCE team manager, Manolo Saiz, has refused to release him for the trial because it clashes with the team's final Tour de France training camp in the Pyrenees. As the Australian Cycling Federation must adhere to its selection criteria submitted to the Australian Olympic Committee, Stephens cannot be granted an exemption from the events. He will not be chosen for the Olympic road team which has already been handed major blows by the withdrawal of Queensland's Brett Dennis (broken hand) last Friday and West Australia's Henk Vogels (tendonitis) yesterday.
And if Stephen's ONCE team-mate, South Australia's Patrick Jonker is also selected for the Tour, he may suffer a similar fate. ACF President, Ray Godkin said that "I am distraught about it. But we have a criteria that has been set. I would like to break it and we have seen our legal people as well as the AOC. But it's very tight and we have to comply with it."
Godkin continued "Not to do so would only open up a Pandora's box for other cyclists not selected to go to the Court of Arbitration. We would be taken to task for not following the laws we have set. We have really cut our legs off. In hindsight, what we should have done, and will do in the future, is to include an addition to the criteria giving consideration to world rankings."
Until now, Stephen's appearance in Saturday's time trial was considered a virtual formality to Olympic selection. No one disputed his place on the team. The only Australian ranked in the world's top 50, the ACT rider recorded wins in Spain at the Ruta del Sol stage race in February and the first stage of the Tour of Basque Country in April. In March, he was fourth overall in the Tour of Murcia in Spain, fifth in the Criterium International in France, and 18th in the one day Milan-San Remo World Cup opener in Italy.
Stephens said yesterday that "Until now, everything was going perfectly for me. The Tour de France is the biggest race in the world. And i can understand why ONCE don't want to compromise anything to win it. But I can see the ACF's position too. But when the chance came for professionals to race in the Olympics, it was a goal I really wanted to achieve. And it seemed I had done everything to achieve it, until now. I am not bitter against anyone. But I am certainly really disappointed. I'm the one who is paying the biggest price."
[Bill notes: ONCE are cretins and so is the ACF. The former should let him fly to England for one day (as if it will make any difference to their Tour operations) and the latter should change their rules. As if any riders not selected will challenge Stephens' selection. No one would be that full of themselves. And so what if they do!!!]