Olympic Games Race Report: Remco Evenepoel took his second Olympic Games Gold medal with his usual attacking style. After the early skirmishes and attacks from Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, the young Belgian escaped with France’s Valentin Madouas to drop him with 14 kilometres to go. A bike change with 4 kilometres to go wasn’t going to stop him. Madouas came in for the Silver medal and his countryman, Christophe Laporte took the Bronze.
*** The full PEZ ‘Olympic Race Report’ very soon. ***
A solo win for Remco Evenepoel
Remco Evenepoel won his second Gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris. After winning the time trial last weekend, the Belgian soloed to the title in the road race. Mathieu van der Poel made several attacks, but these attacks were always neutralised by Wout van Aert. Valentin Madouas took the Silver, his compatriot Christophe Laporte the Bronze.
Men’s road race map
The course of the Olympic road race looks to be based on a Flemish spring Classic. There are a lot of short climbs and the final rise also has cobbles. The 273-kilometre Olympic race in Paris does have more climbing than the Tour of Flanders: 2,800 metres compared to 2,200 metres. But in De Ronde, all the climbing comes in the last 150 kilometres, while in the Paris Olympic race, there is climbing all day. The start is in the Trocadéro district, near the Eiffel Tower. After a neutralised section along the Seine, the riders will start properly in Paris. First there is a circuit of 200 kilometres, mainly in the southwest of the city. This big lap includes 10 categorised climbs. These are not too steep or very long, but there will be a wearing down process.
Men’s road race profile
Between 165 and 205 kilometres, the action should start. In 40 kilometres the riders will tackle 6 climbs: The Côte de Senlisse (1.3km at 5.3%), Côte d’Herbouvilliers (850m at 5.7%), Côte de Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse (1.3km at 6.3%), Côte de Châteaufort (900m at 5.7%), Côte de Bièvres (1.2km at 6.5%) and Côte du Pavé des Gardes (1.3km at 6.5%). From there the peloton will head back to Paris. The finale takes place in the Montmartre district, where the great painters lived. The 18.4 kilometre city circuit, to be ridden two and a half times, contains several climbs, but the winning move is expected on the Butte Montmartre. This cobbled climb to the Sacré-Cœur is 1 kilometre long and has an average gradient of 6.5%. When the peloton summits the Butte Montmartre for the third and final time, there are 9.5 kilometres to the finish line. The course descends to the Seine, then follows the river to the Pont d’Iéna, which is close to the base of the Eiffel Tower. The finish line is on the bridge.
The Netherlands team sign on at the start
In the first part of the race, the top men kept their powder dry. It was riders from the smaller countries who took their chance. Eric Manizabayo from Rwanda attacked early and was joined by Christopher Rouger-Lagane (Mauritius) and Thanakhan Chaiysombat (Thailand). A little later, Charles Kagimu (Uganda) and Achraf Ed Doghmy (Morocco) also joined them.
In the peloton, Daan Hoole and Mikkel Bjerg initially did the work for the Netherlands and Denmark, but they didn’t do too much and decided to rest for later. With 200 kilometres to go, the lead had increased to more than 13 minutes. At that very moment, a new attack came from Santiago Buitrago. The Colombian was not given any space, but Elia Viviani (Italy), Ryan Mullen (Ireland), Georgios Bouglas (Greece) and Gleb Syritsa, racing under the neutral flag, jumped away.
Evenepoel and Van Aert before the start
When the lead got to 14 minutes, the pace in the peloton started to pick up. It was Hoole and Berg again, who now received help from Tiesj Benoot. The lead was being cut into quickly as the chase group, now without Syritsa, also got closer to the five at the front. With 122 kilometres to go, the two groups came together. The gap to the peloton was now only 3 minutes.
The leading group thinned out soon after that. Only Rouger-Lagane and Kagimu were able to follow the three who had crossed, the rest were dropped. The peloton stayed together, despite an attack from Domen Novak with 105 kilometres to go. The Slovenian pushed on over a small climb, but didn’t manage to get away. Ten kilometres later, there was another attempt. It was Valentin Madouas this time. Although the Frenchman was unable to take a gap, his attack started the action. Alexey Lutsenko and Ben Healy rode away together and tried to cross to Viviani and Mullen, the two last remaining escapees. Eventually, Lutsenko and Healy reached Mullen, who had just left Viviani behind. Mullen then rode hard for countyman, Healy.
Out past the Eiffel Tower
About 77 kilometres from the finish, there was an acceleration in the peloton. Benoot put the pressure on up the Côte de Bièvres (1.2km at 6.5%), with Remco Evenepoel on his wheel. The Olympic time trial champion then put in an effort of his own. This was only a first attempt, not yet a ‘full gas’ attack. The leading trio maintained a small lead. When Mullen was exhausted after a final long turn, Healy and Lutsenko pushed on.
There was then attempts to break away from Stefan Küng (Switzerland), Jambaljamts Sainbayar (Mongolia) and Remco Evenepoel once again. However, getting away proved to be too difficult, until Nils Politt (Germany), Valentin Madouas (France) and Michael Woods (Canada) managed it. A few kilometres later they were joined by Fred Wright (Britain), Marco Haller (Austria) and Küng and Sainbayar. The peloton looked at each other, until Benoot and Bjerg started riding.
Julian Alaphilippe keeping an eye on Mathieu van Der Poel
Bjerg had to ease off the pace at the front, because his leader, Mads Pedersen, had a puncture entering Paris. The Dane was able to rejoin the pack before the Butte Montmartre. At this point, everything was still close. The two leaders had 17 seconds on the seven pursuers, the peloton followed 50 seconds. There would be an attack on the first climb of the Butte Montmartre.
Biniam Girmay could top off a great season
With a big jump, Mathieu van der Poel blasted away from the peloton. Only one rider could follow: Wout van Aert. After the summit, the two rivals were joined by Julian Alaphilippe (France), Toms Skujiņš (Latvia) and Matteo Jorgenson (USA). The five were unable to close the gap to the second group immediately, after which several other favourites were able to return from behind. Remco Evenepoel was in this group and he immediately attacked.
The Netherlands (Daan Hoole). Belgium (Ties Benoot) and Denmark (Mattias Skjelmose) were controlling the peloton
Evenepoel crossed to the Küng group very quickly. Lutsenko was also there, as he had to let Healy go. The solo Irishman had a lead of almost 30 seconds on the first pursuers with 35 kilometres to go. Evenepoel was doing most of the work behind. The peloton followed 45 seconds later. Dylan van Baarle who sacrificed himself for Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutchman rode for all he had, but still lost ground on the flying Evenepoel.
The fans were on the finish circuit and climb to Montmartre well before the riders
The Belgian dropped some of the group and closed the gap to Healy within a few kilometres. At the foot of the second time up to Montmartre, the gap on the peloton had increased to 45 seconds. Van der Poel now took over from Van Baarle. At first he rode steadily, then he got out of the saddle. Van Aert had to close a gap, but he succeeded, which was not good for Van der Poel, Van Aert was not going to help to chase Evenepoel.
An attack from the peloton by Mathieu van der Poel to shut down the break was followed by Wout van Aert – The final action had started
With 20K to go it was Remco Evenepoel and Valentin Madouas Valentin off the front of a chase group and the other favourites
With 10 kilometres to go, Evenepoel was solo, Madouas was at 36 seconds and the chasers were over a minute behind
Double Gold for remco Evenepoel
The Belgian plan worked perfectly
2024 Olympic road race champion, Remco Evenepoel (Belgium): “I feel sick from the effort. It was a very tough day. To win this and be the first man to do the double is historic. You are never completely sure (about Madouas). I did feel that his legs were deflating and the spot where I could drop him really suited me, where I could keep pushing on the big ring. From that moment on it was just full throttle until the finish. That flat tyre with four kilometres to go was incredibly stressful. I suddenly felt that I had a flat tyre and I had to change it as quickly as possible. They weren’t ready for that in the car right away. Luckily I had enough time and everything turned out fine. What a day!”
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Olympic Games Men’s Road Race Result:
1. Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) in 6:19:34
2. Valentin Madouas (France) at 1:11
3. Christophe Laporte (France) at 1:16
4. Attila Valter (Hungary)
5. Toms Skujins (Latvia)
6. Marco Haller (Austria)
7. Stefan Küng (Switzerland)
8. Jan Tratnik (Slovenia)
9. Matteo Jorgenson (USA)
10. Ben Healy (Ireland) at 1:20.
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