The 2024 Olympics were taking place in Paris, France. Professional road cyclists from nations around the World were lining up for the final road cycling event of the men’s Olympic cycling schedule. The 2024 Olympic Games Road Race would be contested on a 272.1-kilometer route from Paris to Paris.

While the route of the Olympic Road Race was somewhat hilly, it did not pose any uphill challenges that would make the race appealing for climbers in the peloton. The route profile suited classics specialists and sprinters well, despite featuring small climbs such as Cote des Mesnuls, Cote de Port-Royal - and the Cote de la butte Montmartre, which would be contested three times in the final part of the race.

Reigning Olympic Champion Richard Carapaz (Ecuador) was not at the start of today’s race, as he had not been chosen to represent his country in the 2024 Olympics, despite his impressive performances in this year’s Tour de France.

Favorites to take the victory in the Road Race of the 2024 Olympic Games included Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands), Wout van Aert (Belgium), Mads Pedersen (Denmark), and Julian Alaphilippe (France).

Former professional road cyclist Peter Sagan had been given the honor of sending the riders into battle – a curious choice as it was Sagan who caused the demise of the much-cherished podium girls tradition, when he foolishly grabbed a podium girl on her buttocks while celebrating a race victory. The weather conditions were sunny to partially overcast with temperatures reaching 25 degrees Celcius.

Ninety riders started the race from the Trocadero Square in the streets of Paris, and it did not take long before the first attacks were launched by riders from nations that were not expected to play a significant role in the race finale. Achraf Ed Doghmy (Morocco), Christopher Rougier-Lagane (Mauritius), Thanakhan Chaiyasomba (Thailand), Charles Kagimu (Uganda), and Eric Manizabayo (Rwanda) were the breakaway hopefuls.

Riders from the Danish team were controlling the pace in the main peloton as the riders cruised through the streets of Paris before leaving Paris and heading in direction of the magnificent Versailles Palace.

Denmark’s Mikkel Bjerg and Michael Mørkøv were still leading the main peloton with 210 kilometers left. At this point of the race, the front quintet had a time advantage of approximately six minutes. The open roads in the French countryside offered potential opportunities for strong winds to split the Olympic peloton into echelons. 

Ryan Mullen (Ireland), Elia Viviani (Italy) and other riders launched attacks from the main peloton with 192 kilometers to go, as some teams were not satisfied with the pace of the chase. Viviani, Mullen, Gleb Syritsa, and Georgios Bouglas (Greece) joined forces and established a chase group, which set out to catch the front riders.

The Netherlands and Belgium had sent riders to the front of the main peloton to support the Danes with approximately 160 kilometers remaining, as the riders passed by the Chateau de Grignon.

With 145 kilometers remaining, the front quintet had an advantage of eight minutes over the main peloton, while the Viviani-Mullen led chase group was three minutes behind the front men and five minutes ahead of the main peloton.

Denmark set a fast pace at the front of the main peloton as the riders contested the Cote de Port-Royal with approximately 130 kilometers remaining. The Danish riders were on a mission to optimize the chances for their team captain and sprint ace Mads Pedersen.

The chase group caught the front group when 122 kilometers remained of today’s Olympic Road Race. At this point their time advantage over the main peloton had been minimized to just 02:40 minutes.

The Olympic cycling peloton passed by the Baroque Chateau de Dampierre-en-Yvelines. 100 kilometers now remained, and the situation was still status quo. The riders would contest the final seventy kilometers of the race on a round stretch in the streets of Paris.

Ireland’s Ben Healy and other riders attacked from the main peloton on the Cote de Saint Remy Les Chevreuse. USA’s Magnus Sheffield was also active. Canada’s Derek Gee attacked, and Healy countered - as did Slovenia’s Jan Tratnik. Many of the riders in the original breakaway were now reeled in because of the accelerations from the main peloton. Only Viviani and Mullen now remained in the front group.

The tempo in the main peloton had been significantly increased as eighty kilometers of the race remained. The Danes, Dutch and Belgian riders were setting a fast pace to keep Viviani, Mullen, Healy and Lutsenko on a tight leash. 

The riders were now in the outskirts of Paris and the four riders in breakaways were within a minute of the chasing peloton. Nothing had been decided at this point in the race.

Belgium sent two riders to the front of the peloton. Were they contemplating an attack from Remco Evenepoel? 

Healy joined forces with fellow Irishman Mullen, and Lutsenko. However, they only had a twelve second advantage at this point.

Denmark’s Mattias Skjelmose suffered a mechanical issue and had to switch to a new Specialized bike. Meanwhile, Evenepoel attacked from the front of the peloton, but his attack was shut down by the chasers.

Italy’s main candidate for an Olympic medal Alberto Bettiol moved to the front of the peloton on his Cannondale bike, which had received a beautiful paintjob for the special occasion. Healy was using the same type of Cannondale bike, as Healy and Bettiol were normally joining forces on Team EF Education-EasyPost.

Great Britain’s Thomas Pidcock launched an attack with sixty kilometers remaining, hoping to bridge the gap to the Healy-Lutsenko duo. Evenepoel countered. They were caught.

Healy and Lutsenko were still in front with 55 kilometers left of the Olympic race. A group featuring Valentin Madouas (France), Fred Wright (Great Britain), Stefan Küng (Switzerland), Nils Politt (Germany), Marco Haller (Austria), Michael Woods (Canada), and Jambaljamts Sainbayar (Mongolia) had formed seventeen seconds behind them. The main peloton was approximately one minute behind the front duo. It was headed by Tiesj Benoot (Belgium).

Fifty kilometers remained and the riders were approaching the Cote de la butte Montmartre, which had to be climbed three times. 

The riders passed the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret location. The backsides of the riders were likely also red and sore at this point from the many kilometers in the saddle. Perhaps they would celebrate their performances and relax with a cabaret performance in the Moulin Rouge this evening.

Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) and Wout van Aert (Belgium) attacked on the climb shortly after the Moulin Rouge. They were hoping to bridge the gap to the front groups. No other riders were able to follow the duo at first. USA’s Matteo Jorgenson later caught the duo as did Julian Alaphilippe (France) and Latvia’s Tom Skujins. Meanwhile, Healy was still impressively firing on all engines in solo fashion at the very front of the race.

Mads Pedersen (Denmark), Thomas Pidcock (Great Britain) and other riders caught the Alaphilippe-Van Aert group with forty kilometers left of the battle in the streets of Paris.

Evenepoel attacked 38 kilometers from the finish line and bridged to the Madouas-Wright-Küng-Politt group. Healy was still 47 seconds ahead of the main peloton with 34 kilometers remaining

Healy was caught by Evenepoel, Madouas, Küng, and Haller with thirty-two kilometers left. What an amazing performance from the Irishman.

The riders were now contesting the Cote de la butte Montmartre climb for the second time. Evenepoel, Madouas, and Healy left the other riders behind. Küng and Haller were chasing. 

Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) attacked from behind, hoping to make it to the front group. Wout van Aert (Belgium) joined the ride. 

Healy was dropped from the front group. Evenepoel and Madouas pressed on.

Approximately twenty kilometers remained, and nothing had been decided yet. Madouas and Evenepoel were at the very front, but Julian Alaphilippe attacked from behind, thereby risking reducing the chances of his countryman Madouas. Was Alaphilippe not aware of his fellow Frenchman’s presence in the front duo? 

Evenepoel and Madouas were still at the front with eighteen kilometers remaining. Madouas were now skipping leads. Meanwhile, Christophe Laporte (France) and Matteo Jorgenson (USA) had made the leap to the Küng, Healy, Haller group. They were approximately one minute behind the front duo.

Evenepoel attacked and left Madouas behind. Would Evenepoel take the Olympic Road Race medal after also winning the Olympic Time Trial last weekend?

Evenepoel quickly formed a noteworthy gap and only Madouas appeared to have any chance of catching the Belgian before the finish line at the Trocadero Square, near the Eiffel tower.

The riders were now entering the Cote de la butte Montmartre for the final time in today’s race. Evenepoel increased his lead on the climb. Madouas was now 35 seconds behind. Further behind, the chase group was 01:16 minutes behind. Jorgenson, Healy, Laporte, and Küng were watching each other while hoping to take a bronze medal.

Jorgenson and Laporte left Healy behind on the climb. The Irishman persistently fought to hang on.

Evenepoel entered the Louvre square, while raising his hand. He was not greeting the many spectators, but rather signaling a need for a bike change. He had to wait for his team car to get a replacement. After switching to a new Specialized S-Works bike, the young nervous Belgian rider still had a viable lead of one minute over the chasing Frenchman Madouas.

Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel crossed the finish line in solo fashion as winner of the gold medal in the road race of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The Belgian won the race in 06:19:34. Valentin Madouas was the next man to reach the finish line. The Frenchman took silver for France. Christophe Laporte won a bronze sprint from a small group.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2024 road cycling season.

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