Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) made an enormous assault on the Côte de la butte Montmartre climb and tried to explode the Olympic Games street race on the spectacular ending circuits, however had no reply when Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) counter-attacked and finally rode alone to victory.
The Paris-Roubaix winner and present World Champion might solely end twelfth, 1:49 down on Evenepoel, bringing dwelling the second chase group.
He knew victory had escaped him when Evenepoel bought away from the peloton, blasted throughout with an assault after which went clear alone with 15km to go.
“I feel I used to be adequate but it surely was a tough scenario for me,” Van der Poel admitted, talking post-race to Cyclingnews after which different media.
“I believed after I attacked on Montmartre, that the race was over. We had and actually sturdy group. Then it got here again. When Remco went, I knew it was a extremely harmful second and tough for us to get him again. I’m comfortable for him.”
Van der Poel was typically marked by Belgian rival Wout van Aert. But with Evenepoel up the street, and Van Aert capable of sit on and play a tactical sport, it was checkmate for Belgium. Van der Poel was caught in a entice.
“I knew that Wout van Aert was specializing in me however there’s nothing improper with that,” Van der Poel admitted.
“We went away, even simply the 2 of us, a number of occasions and I believed we had an opportunity. But it got here again collectively. That’s racing.”
Get limitless entry to all of our protection of the 2024 Olympic Games – together with breaking information and evaluation reported by our journalists on the bottom from each occasion throughout street, mountain bike, monitor and BMX racing because it occurs and extra. Find out extra.