Remco Evenepoel achieved another extraordinary feat, maybe the greatest so far in his career, winning the road race of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Saturday, a week after he dominated the individual time trial (ITT). The Belgian’s harvest is unprecedented in men’s Olympic road cycling. Dutch icon Leontien van Moorsel achieved the double victory in the women’s road race and ITT at the Olympic Games Sydney 2000.
The host nation celebrated two French medals, with Valentin Madouas holding on to finish second just ahead of his countryman Christophe Laporte, the fastest among the chasers.
Ninety riders (representing 55 nations) took to the Parisian roads, starting from the Trocadéro, in front of the Eiffel Tower, and heading west, towards Versailles and the Olympic Games venue of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, stage of the BMX Racing events on Thursday and Friday, and host of the track races from Monday. The final circuit, back in Paris, notably visited Montmartre.
Achraf Ed Doghmy (Morocco), Christopher Rougier-Lagane (Mauritius), Thanakan Chaiyasombat (Thailand), Charles Kagimu (Uganda) and Eric Manizabayo (Rwanda) led the race during the long loop ahead of the final circuit in Paris. Their gap went over 14 minutes before the peloton moved closer and Elia Viviani (Italy), Ryan Mullen (Ireland) and Georgios Bouglas (Greece) bridged the gap.
Most of the action unfolded on the return to Paris, with extraordinary crowds awaiting the riders. The spectators were gifted a strong attack from Mathieu Van der Poel (the Netherlands), closely followed by the likes of Wout van Aert (Belgium) and Julian Alaphilippe (France), while Ireland’s Ben Healy was leading the race.
It was the next lap that saw Evenepoel turn up the ante, to join a chase group and get back to Healy. After the second of three ascents up Montmartre, only France’s Madouas managed to stay with the Belgian at the front. He was eventually dropped with 15km to go, leaving the way for Evenepoel’s extraordinary double despite a late scare with a mechanical only 4km from the finish.
After the finish, the new Olympic Champion described his reaction on flatting 4km from the finish: "Yes, too much drama. Being almost sure with four (kilometres) to go and then having a flat... doesn't help the stress and the excitement in the moment."
When asked how he won the race, he said: "I knew Montmartre wasn't the climb that really suited me - the other two bumps suited me better - and I just went all-in every time on the climbs and tried to keep it stable. And in the end it was enough, so what can I say?"
Results available here