The males’s Paris Olympic Games highway race on Saturday, August 3, kicks off the second weekend of highway occasions in central Paris earlier than the change to the velodrome for the observe occasions. The ladies’s highway race can be held 24 hours after the lads’s race on Sunday, August 4, on related programs with the end under the Trocadéro after sprinting throughout the Pont d’Iéna bridge.
Just 90 athletes will compete within the highway races, with the lads racing for 273km, through a protracted rolling loop to the southeast of Paris after which two laps of an 18.4km circuit that features a cobbled climb as much as the spectacular Montmartre.
An 87km highway race was a part of the primary trendy Olympic Games in 1896 in Greece, with six males participating. Time trials typically changed highway racing over time, however the modern-day format of time trials and highway races for women and men was established in 1996 when skilled athletes have been additionally allowed to compete.
The Tour de France and the Classics maybe stay a very powerful races in skilled biking, however Olympic success has turn out to be increasingly prestigious. Recent Olympic males’s highway race gold medal winners embody Richard Carapaz (Tokyo), Greg van Avermaet (Rio 2016) and Alexandre Vinokourov (London 2012).
Tadej Pogačar has opted to not race in Paris after profitable the Tour de France and the likes of Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič are absent as a result of the course doesn’t swimsuit them or because of harm however the entry record contains lots of the largest names and greatest one-day race within the sport.
Paris Olympics males’s highway race favourites
Julian Alaphilippe has not gained a serious Classic or world title since taking his second rainbow jersey in 2021 however will certainly be essentially the most motivated rider on the beginning line at his house Olympic Games.
The Soudal-QuickStep rider opted to not journey the Tour de France in order that he may very well be at his easiest for the Olympic highway race. He is the pure workforce chief of the French workforce that additionally contains Valentin Madouas, Tour de France stage winner Kévin Vauquelin and Christophe Laporte, and all 4 are potential medal contenders.
Alaphilippe struggled after crashing on the 2022 Liège-Bastogne-Liège and turned 32 in June. However, he gained a stage on the Giro d’Italia and appears to have rediscovered his greatest type and his love for racing.
A medal in Paris may revitalise his profession as he additionally decides on his workforce for 2025.
The present World Champion seems to be the right rider for the anticipated open racing, cobbled climb of Montmartre and a potential small-group dash end.
He dominated the World Championships in Glasgow final yr after which the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. However, he was much less spectacular on the Tour de France, failing to win a stage, and so will journey to Paris with doubts about his type and his possibilities.
Van der Poel opted out of using the mountain bike occasion and so solely has one shot at a meal in Paris. He leads a powerful Dutch workforce of solely three riders that additionally contains Dylan van Baarle and Daan Hoole.
Van der Poel should race sensible towards his largest and maybe extra on-form rivals if he desires to win a medal.
Evenepoel leads a strong Belgian workforce, with Wout Van Aert, Jasper Stuyven and even Tiesj Benoot as potential medal winners. Internal rivalry may once more create issues contained in the Belgian workforce however the lengthy race in Paris may and will see Evenepoel emerge and be sturdy within the remaining kilometres.
Evenepoel and Van Aert are additionally concentrating on the time trial, and the younger Belgian has a shot at two gold medals. He completed the Tour de France on a excessive and nonetheless appears recent and targeted sufficient to objective his type for Saturday’s time trial after which the highway race every week later.
Van Aert and Stuyven provide good dash end choices, however Evenepoel will certainly have the liberty to attempt to assault within the remaining 50km, even perhaps on the journey to the end on the Trocadéro.
If he will get away and into time trial mode, who can catch him?
Alberto Bettiol (Italy)
Bettiol is arguably an outsider for the Olympic highway race however is usually a hazard within the largest, hardest highway races, as he proved by profitable the Tour of Flanders in 2019 and ultimately yr’s World Championships when he attacked alone to problem the massive favourites.
Italy has simply three riders, and Elia Viviani has been chosen alongside Luca Mozzato to present the Italian observe workforce an additional rider for the workforce pursuit. Mozzato may very well be a contender if an sudden group goes clear, however Bettiol is the protected rider and is targeted on Olympic success.
He left the Tour de France after stage 14 because of fatigue, however that ought to enable him to peak for the highway race. He rides the time trial alongside Filippa Ganna and that may give a sign of his type and dedication.
Ben Healy (Ireland)
Healy leads the two-man Irish workforce and solely has Ryan Mullen for assist, however he’s nonetheless anticipated to be a medal contender in Paris.
The EF Education-EasyPost rider went on the assault on 5 completely different levels on the Tour de France and launched many extra strikes on different days, as a substitute and foil to Carapaz who gained in Superdévoluy and took the polka-dot mountains jersey.
Healy prefers the Ardennes Classics to the cobbled Classics however may very well be a hazard, particularly on the town streets of Paris. His capacity to assault lengthy and laborious may damage Classics riders like Van der Poel and Van Aert.
Girmay is Eritrea’s solely rider within the males’s highway race however carries the hopes and goals of the cycling-mad African nation.
Girmay struggled in 2023 however has discovered excellent type and extra self-confidence this summer season, his three stage victories and the inexperienced jersey on the Tour de France making him a logical favorite for the Paris course.
After profitable his first Tour de France stage, to turn out to be the primary Black African to win on the Tour, Girmay wrote on social media: “Let me open the door.”
A medal in Paris could be historic, and gold would change biking endlessly and blow open the door for a lot of different African riders.
Despite nonetheless solely being 24, Girmay has by no means been intimidated by his rivals or of being an outsider. He has a powerful aggressive streak and is fearless in dash finishes, staying calm and picked up. It appears an ideal mixture for Paris.
Pidcock’s many biking abilities typically drive him to mix highway racing with mountain biking and cyclocross. He has gained in each sport however sometimes compromised one for an additional.
In Paris, the Yorkshire rider is hoping to double up within the mountain bike race after which the highway race.
Pidcock gained gold in Tokyo three years in the past and is a favorite but once more. He is maybe an outsider for the highway race however has the expertise and focus to win two medals.
He left the Tour de France because of COVID-19 however had time to get better and put together for Paris. He is a part of a powerful Great Britain workforce that features Ethan Hayter, Josh Tarling, Fred Wright and Stevie Williams.
One of them will certainly win a medal, with Pidcock absolutely decided to take his probability.
The huge Danish Classics rider was a pure favorite for the highway race, however his crash on the Tour de France and a shoulder harm compelled him out of the race after only a week.
Pedersen is again in coaching and hopes to be 100%, however doubts stay about simply how a lot type he has misplaced, particularly in comparison with his rivals who impressed and raced a lot on the Tour de France.
The Danish workforce additionally contains Mattias Skjelmose, Michael Mørkøv and Mikkel Bjerg, however Pedersen absolutely stays the protected workforce chief.
L’Equipe chosen Matthews as a part of its high three contenders for the highway race and the 33-year-old Australian appears completely suited to the Paris course and the anticipated open, aggressive racing.
Matthews all the time races together with his coronary heart on his sleeve and can be proud to put on the Australian inexperienced and gold. He sometimes stumbles on the line or future cruelly steps in, as occurred even at this yr’s Tour de France, but the Olympics may very well be his second of glory.
He has the shape, race craft and quick end to hit the road first on the Trocadéro.
Various riders may have accomplished our record of ten favourites for the highway race, however we picked the American because of his want and ambition, regardless of going deep within the Tour de France to assist Jonas Vingegaard and end eighth general.
An emotional Instagram put up confirmed Jorgenson continues to be hungry, and he has the shape and the Classics capacity to go the gap in Paris.
Brandon McNulty and Magnus Sheffield will present glorious assist after using the time trial and so create a small however unified US workforce that may fly underneath the radar as the larger nations watch and management one another.
The outsiders
There are solely 90 riders on the beginning record and a most workforce dimension of 4 riders, so the Olympic highway race is huge open, with a protracted record of outsiders and darkish horses to think about past our ten names.
Watch out for Jhonatan Narváez, who was chosen for Ecuador’s sole spot forward of Richard Carapaz and keep in mind how he beat Tadej Pogačar on stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia.
Nils Politt and Max Schachmann type a harmful German combo, as do Michael Woods and Derek Gee for Canada.
Alex Aranburu (Spain), Toms Skujiņš (Latvia), Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland) and Corbin Strong (New Zealand) can’t be ignored and will all battle for the medals.
When is the Paris Olympics males’s highway race?
The males’s highway race begins on Saturday, August 3 11:00 CET (5:00 EDT) and ends at round 18:15 (12:15 EDT). Find out the right way to watch biking on the Paris Olympics
Men’s Paris Olympics highway race begin record
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Men’s Paris Olympics highway race route
How lengthy is the Paris Olympics males’s highway race
The males will race 273 kilometres, beginning on the Trocadéro and taking in 225 kilometres in a collection of loops to the west of Paris earlier than returning to the centre of Paris for 2 18.4-kilometre ending circuits.
See additionally the total particulars of the Paris Olympics biking programs.