Saturday, August 3, 2024 at 5:28 PM
Remco Evenepoel has won his second gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris. After winning the time trial last weekend, the Belgian now soloed to the title in the road race. Mathieu van der Poel made several attacks, but these attacks were always neutralized by Wout van Aert. Valentin Madous took the silver, his compatriot Christophe Laporte the bronze.
The Olympic road race in Paris promised to be a real battle of attrition. The course was 273 kilometres long, contained 2,800 metres of elevation and featured a vicious executioner in the form of the Côte de la Butte Montmartre (1 km at 6.5%). This cobbled climb was part of the local, 18.4 kilometre long final round. After completing this city circuit two and a half times, the riders still had to cover nine kilometres to the finish, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Mathieu van der Poel was one of the top favourites, but the competition was fierce, with riders including Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert and Olympic time trial champion Remco Evenepoel.
Mathieu van der Poel before the start – photo: Cor Vos
Leading group gets a lot of space
In the opening phase, these men logically kept their powder dry. It were riders from the smaller cycling countries who seized their moment of glory. Eric Manizabayo from Rwanda attacked in the first kilometers and was joined by Christopher Rouger-Lagane (Mauritius) and Thanakhan Chaiysombat (Thailand). A little later, Charles Kagimu (Uganda) and Achraf Ed Doghmy (Morocco) joined. We thus had five early escapees.
In the peloton, Daan Hoole and Mikkel Bjerg initially did some controlling work for the Netherlands and Denmark respectively, but at a certain point they decided to keep their legs still again. With two hundred kilometres to go, the lead of the escapees had increased to more than thirteen 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 – a Russian, racing under the neutral flag – were allowed to ride away.
Hoole, Benoot and Bjerg divide the work – photo: Cor Vos
Difference is shrinking
When the gap between the first group and the peloton had become fourteen minutes, the pace in the pack started to pick up again. Again by Hoole and Berg, who now received help from Tiesj Benoot. The Belgians also put a man in the lead. The minutes flew by, while the group Viviani (from whom Syritsa quickly fell away) also came closer and closer to the five leaders. With 122 kilometers to go, the two groups merged. The gap with the peloton was then three minutes.
The leading group thinned out immediately in the kilometers that followed. Only Rouger-Lagane and Kagimu were able to follow the three men who had crossed, the rest went overboard. The peloton stayed together for the time being, despite a pinprick from Domen Novak with 105 kilometers to go. The Slovenian pushed on briefly on a small climb, but did not get away. A good ten kilometers later came the next attempt.
Van der Poel in the opening phase – photo: Cor Vos
Game on the wagon
It was Valentin Madouas who gave it a go. Although the Frenchman was unable to create a gap, his action did ensure that the game was on the wagon. Among others, Alexey Lutsenko and Ben Healy were now stirring. The Kazakh and the Irishman 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 himself empty for his compatriot Healy.
Just before that, at about 77 kilometers from the finish, there had also been an acceleration in the peloton. Benoot accelerated on the Côte de Bièvres (1.2 km at 6.5%), with Remco Evenepoel on his wheel. The Olympic time trial champion started shaking the tree himself not much later. But it was only a first prick, not yet a all-out demarrage. Because it then became somewhat quiet, the leading trio maintained a small lead. When Mullen was exhausted after a final long turn, Healy and Lutsenko continued together.
Dangerous group drives away
A phase followed with attempts to break away from Stefan Küng (Switzerland), Jambaljamts Sainbayar (Mongolia) and… Remco Evenepoel once again. However, getting away proved to be very difficult until Nils Politt (Germany), Valentin Madouas (France) and Michael Woods (Canada) managed to break away. They were joined a few kilometres later by Fred Wright (Great Britain), Marco Haller (Austria) and the aforementioned Küng and Sainbayar. The peloton looked at each other for a while, until Benoot and Bjerg started riding.
Large audience in Paris – photo: Cor Vos
Bjerg also had to keep his head down, because his leader Mads Pedersen got a flat tire when 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 seventeen seconds on the seven chasers, the peloton followed fifty seconds further. Did anyone dare to take the plunge on the first climb of the Butte Montmartre?
First Van der Poel, then Evenepoel
Yes, was the answer. With an enormous explosion of power, Mathieu van der Poel blasted away from the peloton. Only one rider could follow uphill: Wout van Aert. After the top, the two eternal rivals were joined by Julian Alaphilippe (France), Toms Skujiņš (Latvia) and Matteo Jorgenson (United States). The five were unable to close the gap with the second group immediately, after which several other favourites were able to return from the back. Among them Remco Evenepoel, who immediately gave it a blow.
Van der Poel and Van Aert – photo: Cor Vos
Evenepoel did ride to Küng and co in one go. Lutsenko was also there by now, because he had to let Healy go. The solo Irishman still had a lead of almost half a minute on the first pursuers 35 kilometers before the finish, where Evenepoel did the lion’s share of the work. The peloton followed at three quarters of a minute. Here it was Dylan van Baarle who sacrificed himself for Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutchman rode himself completely empty, but still lost some ground. Evenepoel was unleashed.
Van der Poel can’t get Van Aert off
The Belgian rode out a few companions and closed the gap with Healy within a few kilometers. At the foot of the second Montmartre the gap with the peloton had increased to three quarters of a minute. Van der Poel now took over from Van Baarle. At first he stayed in the saddle, then he stood on the pedals. Van Aert had to close a gap, but he succeeded. An annoying situation for Van der Poel, since Van Aert was of course not going to help close the gap with Evenepoel.
Evenepoel and Madous – photo: Cor Vos
That same Evenepoel had left everyone behind on the Butte Montmartre, except Madous. The Frenchman clung to his wheel. In the meantime, Van der Poel had kept his legs still, allowing a bunch of riders to return. Christophe Laporte and Matteo Jorgenson still had some left in the tank and rode towards Haller, Küng and Healy. However, fifteen kilometres from the finish, they were already more than a minute behind Evenepoel and Madouas. The peloton followed another twenty seconds further.
Historic victory Evenepoel
At the same moment, Evenepoel rode his escape companion Madouas smoothly out of his wheel. Then he ‘only’ had to ride a time trial to the finish. And he did, in an impressive way. He kept increasing his lead over Madouas and the other pursuers. Still, it got a little bit exciting. About four kilometers from the finish, Evenepoel got a flat tire. However, he quickly got a new bike and because his lead was huge, he was eventually able to celebrate a big victory on the Pont d’Iéna.
Evenepoel’s performance can be called historic. Never before has anyone won the Olympic time trial and road race. It is also only the third time that a Belgian has won gold in the Olympic road race: only André Noyelle (Helsinki, 1952) and Greg Van Avermaet (Rio, 2016) preceded him.
Battle for other medals
Behind Evenepoel, Madous managed to hold her ground in the battle for silver. A small group would sprint for bronze. Laporte was by far the fastest and gave France not only silver but also bronze. Mathieu van der Poel eventually crossed the line in twelfth place. Wout van Aert, who fell in the final phase, came in 37th.
