A sunny start to the men’s road race on Saturday, the longest event at the 2024 Games, and the longest road race contested in Olympic history at 272 kilometers long (170 miles).
Remco Evenepoel put on a masterclass in the city circuit portion of the course to win with a time of 6:19:34. The gold medal finish was an historic win because he is the first rider to win the men’s time trial and road race at the same Olympic Games.
The race began with 90 riders from 55 countries. The distance the riders rode in France is equivalent of riding from New York City to Rhode Island.
Early in the race a group of five, none of whom were contenders, expended a lot of energy to lead the peloton by as much as 15 minutes at one point. Favorites like Wout van Aert of Belgium and Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands didn’t panic and would slowly close the gap.
In the countryside, Ireland’s Ben Healy overtook the initial lead group with compatriot Ryan Mullen. It as an impressive race by Healy who’d hold the lead until just over 30km to go.
The city circuit is where big names started to make their moves. On the first climb up the cobblestones on the Cote de la butte Montmartre, the street where all the famous artists lived and Moulin Rouge is located.
Mathieu van der Poel launched his first attack of the day, and Van Aert would follow, to separate themselves from the peloton and make a second chase group that would be 37 seconds back of Healy. American Matteo Jorgenson would join the pair moments later.
Evenepoel, the Olympic time trial champion, then made his third big push of the day to separate himself from the main group and join the chase group before leaving them behind to chase down Healy.
As the group began the second climb of the day, van Aert and van der Poel separated themselves from the chase group but that’s where home course advantage would pay off for the French.
Valentin Madouas hung around near the front of the chase group during the early jockeying of the city circuit section, he eventually left them and chased down Evenepoel to take the second position with a little over 16km (10 miles) to go.
Compatriot Christophe Laporte would make a move to catch main chase group with Van Aert and Van der Poel. His pro teammate, Jorgenson, would join and the two took the lead of the main chase group.
Simultaneously, Evenepoel made a strong push on a steep incline to leave Madouas. He took control and made the final push by himself.
The final of the 21 climbs of the day, saw the Belgian rider look in total control, Madouas looked comfortably in second. Jorgeson now led Laporte in a battle for bronze.
A flat tire was the only thing that could’ve derailed Evenepoel down the stretch and that’s exactly what happened with 3.7 km to go right outside the Louvre Museum. It was pure panic for the Belgian rider, but his team got him a replacement bike quickly. An interesting element of the race this year, no radios allowed, caused Evenepoel to not know much time he lost with the bike change.
The panic was only temporary. He regained his momentum, found out the time between him and Madouas, and cruised to the finish, taking in the moment and scenic backdrop in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Madouas claimed silver at home, 1:11 behind Evenpoel. Teammate Laporte would hang on for bronze. It’s the first time France has medaled in the men’s road race in 68 years. Jorgenson finished in a crowded group right behind Laporte for 9th overall.
American Brandon McNulty finished 24th while Magnus Sheffield finished 42nd in his first Olympics.
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