One week after standing on the top step after a decidedly damp Olympic time trial, Remco Evenepoel added a second Olympic gold medal to his palmarès at the end of the 272.1-kilometre road race, starting and finishing at the Eiffel Tower.
It was a long and aggressive race that was every bit the northern European classic the organisers could have hoped for as cycling nations big and small battled for the medals. The French were naturally hugely motivated, knowing they were underdogs compared to Classics powerhouses Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, but the French would not give up, and the home nation was rewarded with silver and bronze through Valentin Madouas and Christophe Laporte.
- Five riders eased away from the relatively small peloton while still winding through the Parisian boulevards. With Achraf Ed Doghmy (Morocco), Christopher Rougier-Lagane (Mauritius), Thanakhan Chaiyasombat (Thailand), Charles Kagimu (Uganda) and Eric Manizabayo (Rwanda) stretching their advantage to over 13 minutes in the first hour or so, the bigger teams set a rhythm in the bunch, Denmark and the Netherlands early in demonstrating their intentions by posting Mikkel Bjerg and Daan Hoole to the front.
- There was a flurry of action after 80 km of racing when a handful of underdog teams pushed the pace on a false flat, bringing the gap closer to ten minutes and resulting in a strong counter-move of four, comprising Elia Viviani (Italy), Gleb Syritsa (Individual Neutral Athletes), Ryan Mullen (Ireland), Georgios Bouglas (Greece).
- The peloton then sat up and let the gap to the front bounce back out to 15 minutes before the bigger teams turned on the pace again, stretching the peloton into one long line as the counter-attackers worked their way to the front.
- But for the occasional flurry of activity, it was just a matter of the peloton steadily trimming the gap to what remained of the breakaway, all the way down to around the two-minute mark as the race hit the cluster of punchy climbs inside the last 100 km.
- The probing attacks continued in the bunch as the smaller teams attempted to wear down the favourites in Belgium, Dutch and Danish jerseys, but they too were not shy about showing their cards. With 77 km to go, Benoot and Evenepoel bossed the pointy end of the bunch on a climb to test their rivals and put everyone on notice.
- A few kilometres later, Ben Healy (Ireland) and Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan) broke clear of the bunch and set about chasing down Ryan Mullen and Elia Viviani about a minute up the road.
- Even Evenepoel got involved in the attacks that continued in the bunch as Healy and Lutsenko made it to the front, Viviani cramping out of the lead.
- Then a strong chase group formed, none of the big teams represented, and reached out for the leaders as the peloton attempted to control things back in the boulevards of Paris.
- On the first ascent of the Côte de la butte Montmartre (1.1 km à 5.8%) just inside 50 km to go, Healy and Lutsenko still had a slender lead over the chase group, with the peloton just under a minute behind. And as the gradient kicked up, Lutsenko finally crumbled, leaving the Irishman alone.
- The race then entered a new phase as the peloton hit the cobbled climb, and while Belgium had been making most of the offensive moves thus far, Mathieu van der Poel made a first move for the Netherlands, accelerating hard so that only Wout van Aert could follow at first, the duo soon joined by Toms Skujiņš (Latvia), Julian Alaphilippe (France) and Matteo Jorgenson (USA).
- This strong group was neutralised too though, Denmark having missed out once again.
- But before anyone could take a breath, Evenepoel took his chance to attack the weary bunch. It was explosive, and in no time at all, he’d joined the second group on the road.
- Evenepoel went straight to the front of the group but barely got an ounce of help as he dragged them up to Healy with 33km to go, and pushing on until only he and Madouas were left.
- The gap to the two leaders seemed only to be going in one direction. With almost 50 seconds of disadvantage, Van der Poel tried again on the second time up the Montmartre climb, but there was a growing sense of ‘it’s over’.
- Ultimately that moment truly came at the foot of the climb for the final ascent, when Evenepoel rode the Frenchman off his wheel. There were 15 kilometres to go and over a minute to his nearest rivals as the Belgian reached out towards double Olympic gold.
- There was a moment of desperation 3.8 km from the line when Evenepoel needed a bike swap, but it was pretty efficient – or at least efficient enough – and the young leader still had about a minute in hand as he rode his way to the Eiffel Tower finish.
- The focus then turned to the race for medals. Madouas had managed to hold off the chase to seal silver, and only a handful of seconds later, Christophe Laporte led home the Healy group he’d joined after going on the attack between the last two ascents.
- Gold for Belgium, with two delighted Frenchman joining him on the podium.
Men’s Olympic road race top 10
- Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) 6:19:34
- Valentin Madouas (France) +1:11
- Christophe Laporte (France) +1:16
- Attila Valter (Hungary) st.
- Toms Skujiņš (Latvia) st.
- Marco Haller (Austria) st.
- Stefan Küng (Switzerland) st.
- Jan Tratnik (Slovenia) st.
- Matteo Jorgenson (United States) st.
- Ben Healy (Ireland) +1:20
Quotes of the day
Honestly I feel sick from the effort, it was a pretty hard day out there, and I’m so proud to win this and be the first ever [male rider] to take the double. It’s history, no?”
Evenepoel said at the finish
I thought when I attacked on Montmartre, that the race was over. We had a good and really strong group. Then it came back. When Remco went, I knew it was a really dangerous moment and difficult for us to get him back. I’m happy for him.”
Van der Poel said, in the end settling for 12th after an aggressive finale
Brief analysis
- It was a tough race to control. At a shade over 270 km the parcours measured up to an age-old classic, and yet even some of the strongest national teams had a maximum of four riders, which afforded a team leader sometimes fewer than half the domestiques they’d benefit from in the spring. Add to that the lack of radios, and the race becomes a tough riddle before it’s even begun. Tough to ride, but a thrill to watch.
- Once the five-man breakaway had eased clear and gained a sizeable advantage, the faces who appeared at the front of the peloton were exactly as you’d expect, all of them workhorses for the big three favourites, Mads Pedersen, Mathieu van der Poel and, well, Belgium. Each of those teams appeared to have very different approaches to the race. First, there was Denmark which seemed most keen to control things for as long as possible. Then there was a Dutch team with only Daan Hoole and Dylan van Baarle around Mathieu van der Poel, who was left improvising after his all-in attack didn’t quite go to plan (see quote above). Finally, Belgium had arrived in Paris determined to ride on the offensive with both Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel as leaders, and who were open to attacking almost anywhere on the course. It was that tactic, and a huge amount of strength in both Evenepoel’s final attack and his world and Olympic gold-winning time trial abilities, that won on the day.
- Meanwhile, there were dozens of other teams whose sole cause was to disrupt the domination, which included France, Great Britain and Slovenia, all four-man teams and yet still very much underdogs. They put on an admirable show with disruptive accelerations beginning before they’d even completed 100 km – all to put pressure on the favourites and their domestiques who already had their work cut out given the limited supply of fresh legs.
- Finally, a word for the course. Sure, it was crazy long – perhaps too long given the size of the peloton – but even its length added the Classic-esque fatigue factor to proceedings, and then the riders had the 40 lumpy kilometres that led into the final laps. With a short and beautiful climb on the circuit and a spectacular finish, the organisers have rightly earned huge praise for designing a thrillingly dynamic race. Future Classic? Or – and say it quietly so as not to upset any nearby sprinters – perhaps a chance to shake up the Tour de France finale?
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