The venues were Fort Copacabana in the Copacabana, venues were in Clusters for the start and finish of the road cycling race,[1] Pontal in the Barra Cluster for the road cycling time trial competitions, the Rio Olympic Velodrome, also in the Barra Cluster for track cycling,[2] the Olympic BMX Center for BMX and the Mountain Bike Centre for mountain biking, both in the Deodoro Cluster.

[3] Cycling competitions had been contested in every Summer Olympics programme since the first modern Olympiad in 1896 alongside athletics, artistic gymnastics, fencing and swimming.

Since the 1896 contests, which featured five track events and an 87 km road race from Athens to Marathon and back, Olympic cycling had gradually evolved to include women's competitions, mountain biking and BMX, resulting to the current eighteen events.

In February 2013, the International Cycling Union (UCI) announced its intention to petition the IOC to extend the cycling programme by three events for both men and women: the return of the points races (track event), a BMX freestyle event and a mountain bike eliminator.

In addition to the event records, Great Britain's Jason Kenny matched compatriate Chris Hoy as the most successful male cyclist in Olympic history, with six gold medals and a silver over three Games.