2024 Olympic Games Men’s Road Race: The Olympic Games road race is much more important in the cycling world than it used to be and now many top riders have made it a major goal of the season. World champion Mathieu van der Poel, World and Olympic TT champion Remco Evenepoel and his countryman Wout van Aert will be on the start line in Paris on Saturday along with a top line-up. Here is the PEZ rundown on the course and the favourites for Gold.
Richard Carapaz won solo in Tokyo in 2021
The Course
Saturday 3 August: Paris – Paris (273km)
Start: 11:00am (CET)
Finish: between 18:00pm and 18:30pm (CET)
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 the De Ronde, all the climbing comes in the last 150 kilometres, while in the Paris Olympic race, there is climbing all day.
Olympic men’s road race map
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.
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.
Olympic men’s road race profile
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 ofMontmartre the Eiffel Tower. The finish line is on the bridge.
The battle will be on the Butte Montmartre
Favourites
Mathieu van der Poel personally had a disappointing Tour de France, although he did some lead-out work for Jasper Philipsen and rode hard up the Col du Tourmalet. But there was no stage win or even a close call from the World champion. That said, Van der Poel has to be one of the big favourites for the Olympic road race. There is no secret that he made the Olympic Games a big goal for the 2024 season. The Dutchman wanted to do better in the Tour, but it was always planned as training for the Olympics Games in Paris. The World champion had picked certain stages that he would ride hard and other days he would ease back to stay as fresh as possible. He had the same plan in 2023, that worked well as he took the rainbow jersey, with a show of domination in Glasgow, fourteen days after the Tour.
The plan worked for van der Poel in Glasgow last year
Of course that doesn’t mean the plan will work this time, but it does show that Van der Poel can peak when he wants something big. This spring he won the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, two races he had set his sights on. That was his third victory in de Ronda and the Olympic road race course is very similar, but is he the top favourite?
Evenepoel and Van Aert already have Olympic medals from the time trial
The Belgian team will be out to beat the World champion with two leaders who can each win in Paris: Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert. Evenepoel will be looking to win with a long attack, possibly from the final climb, similar to his win in the World championships in Wollongong, where he won after a 25 kilometre solo. Paris could go the same way and you could argue that he has matured as a rider since then. He could be on for a second Gold medal. Van der Poel will only have Dylan van Baarle and Daan Hoole as teammates, so the Dutch team will have difficulty controlling a two-pronged attack for the Belgian team. Evenepoel said he was tired after the Tour de France, but he looked good in the Olympic time trial, although 32 kilometres are a lot different from 273 kilometres.
A repeat of the 2022 Worlds for Evenepoel?
Evenepoel will have to attack for his win, while Van Aert can wait for a sprint. Van Aert hasn’t had his best season, after his crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen, but a Gold medal at the Olympic Games could change all that. The course suites him, the only question is his form. During the Tour he was improving as the race went on, but Van Aert was not his old self. He did take an Olympic Bronze medal in the time trial last Saturday, but a long road race…. Belgium has the advantage of having four riders. Evenepoel and Van Aert will be backed-up by Jasper Stuyven and Ties Benoot. Stuyven is in great form, in the Tour he only just missed out on a stage win. The Belgian team might have a surprise on their hands and Stuyven could pull it off.
Van Aert if it comes down to a sprint
Mads Pedersen crashed on stage five of the Tour de France and gave up a few days later with a small fracture of his shoulder blade. The Dane announced that he would focus on the Olympic Games and he is another rider that the route should suit. The winner of Gent-Wevelgem, where Pedersen beat Van der Poel, comes into his own after long, tough races and Saturday will be a war of attrition. Pedersen has a strong sprint at the end of a race, but he is not the only one.
Pedersen – World champion to Olympic champion?
Biniam Girmay won three stages in the Tour de France, all from a bunch sprint, but as we saw in the 2022 Gent-Wevelgem, he can also win form a small group. The Paris Olympic Games route is a bit harder, but Girmay has the form and the confidence to win from a group, either large or small.
Biniam Girmay’s confidence will be sky high
Michael Matthews is a rider who will be at home on this course. His Tour de France was similar to Van der Poel’s, but when it comes to the big events you can’t write Matthews off. With two third places and one second, plus an U23 rainbow jersey, he can perform at the big championships. Matthews had good form this spring this spring, he was second in Milano-Sanremo and third in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, although he was relegated to 11th place due to a manoeuvre in the sprint. Matthews is another rider with a strong finish the end of a tough race. Ben O’Connor will fly to Paris to replace Luke Plapp in the Australian team. Plapp crashed after the first intermediate time point in the TT. He had to abandon and undergo abdominal surgery that evening.
Matthews isn’t past his best
France also has a few riders who could keep the Gold at home. First Julian Alaphilippe, the two-time World champion, has had a lot of bad luck since his rainbow run, but the 32-year-old rider looked to be getting his old form back in the Giro d’Italia. Loulou was back to his old attacking self and took the stage victory in Fano. Alaphilippe will be motivated by racing in his own country and he missed out the Tour de France to be in top form for the road race in Paris. In the Czech Tour, his last preparation race, he won the final stage. The French team also has Valentin Madouas, Kévin Vauquelin and Christophe Laporte on the start line. Laporte won the European championship on the VAM mountain last year and was second in the World championship in Wollongong the previous year. 2024 has not beet good for Laporte, mainly due to bad luck. If that is all behind him, then he could have a good race in Paris.
A medal for Alaphilippe?
We can’t miss out double mountain bike Olympic champion Tom Pidcock. The 24-year-old finished second in the gravel stage of the Tour, but didn’t do much else. He abandoned the French Grand Tour after two weeks with covid. Pidcock seemed to have bounced back well, as he won the mountain bike race on Monday. Can he win a second gold medal in the road race? The winner of the 2024 Amstel Gold Race is certainly a rider to watch.
Another Olympic Gold for Tom Pidcock?
Marc Hirschi was not originally meant to be riding, but he will now travel to Paris as a last minute replacement for Stefan Bissegger. Hirschi recently won the Czech Tour and is one of the many outsiders who could do something.
Marc Hirschi has just won the Czech Tour
Other riders to keep an eye on are; Jonathan Narvaéz (Ecuador), Mattias Skjelmose (Denmark), Toms Skujiņš (Latvia), Matej Mohorič (Slovenia), Matteo Jorgenson (USA), Alberto Bettiol (Italy), Oier Lazkano (Spain), Ben Healy (Ireland) and Rui Costa (Portugal).
Jonathan Narvaéz could surprise
Maybe there are more big names missing than on the start line: Tadej Pogačar, either too tired after the Giro-Tour double, or for love. Jonas Vingegaard, Jasper Philipsen, Arnaud De Lie, Primoz Roglič and reigning Olympic champion, Richard Carapaz are also not in Paris.
No Pogi in Paris
Favourites
Top: Remco Evenepoel
Very Possible: Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert
Maybe: Mads Pedersen, Biniam Girmay and Jasper Stuyven
Outside: Julian Alaphilippe, Michael Matthews, Christophe Laporte and Tom Pidcock.
Remco Evenepoel – The PEZ choice
Keep it PEZ for the Olympic Road Race report on Saturday and all the news in EUROTRASH Monday.
# Thanks to ProCyclingStats and WielerFlits for facts and figures. #
The 2021 Olympic Games road race in Tokyo
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