It was a sunny start for 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). Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel put on a masterclass in the city circuit portion of the course to win gold with a time of 6:19:34. He became the first man 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 considered contenders — expended a lot of energy to lead a large peloton. Favorites like Wout van Aert of Belgium and Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands didn’t panic and slowly closed 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 held the lead until just over 30km to go.
The city circuit is where the big names started to make their moves. The cobblestones on the Cote de la butte Montmartre — the street where all the famous artists lived and Moulin Rouge is located — provided the backdrop for most of the drama.
Van der Poel launched his first attack of the day and Van Aert followed to separate themselves from the peloton and make a second chase group 37 seconds back of Healy. American Matteo Jorgenson joined 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.
"We instantly had a nice little gap," van der Poel said. "I don't know who chased us down, but when those two groups got together and Remco attacked, he went at the exact right moment for him. We knew he would be very dangerous if he did that, and he finished it off beautifully."
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 paid 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 made a move to catch the main chase group with Van Aert and Van der Poel. His pro teammate, Jorgenson, joined him 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.
It seemed that flat tire was the only thing that could derail Evenepoel down the stretch. Unbelievably, 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, leaving Evenepoel in the dark as to how 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, relishing the scenic backdrop before the Eiffel Tower.
Madouas claimed silver at home, 1:11 behind Evenpoel. French teammate Laporte hung on for bronze. It’s the first time France has won a medal in the men’s road race in 68 years.
For the United States, Jorgenson finished in a crowded group right behind Laporte for 9th overall.
After the race, Jorgenson had an honest assessment of his race, "(I had) good legs, put myself in positions to win the race, and in the end I got tactically outplayed. There were teams like France and Belgium with more numbers," alluding to teams who had four riders in the race — a tactical advantage in the road race.
Other U.S. riders Brandon McNulty finished 24th while Magnus Sheffield finished 42nd in his first Olympics.