Historic! Remco Evenepoel, who became the first rider to win both the time trial and the inline race at the Olympic Games in the same year, was crowned Olympic road champion at Paris 2024 on Saturday after a spectacular attacking move in the final phase of the race.
Evenepoel, who was supported by Tiesj Benoot, Jasper Stuyven and Wout van Aert, rode solo in the final 13 kilometers of the race to take the gold medal, beating his nearest rival by more than a minute.
The Frenchmen Valentin Madouas and Christophe Laporte, who claimed the silver and bronze medals, respectively, rounded out the top five. The top 5 was completed by Hungary’s Attila Valter and Latvia’s Tom Skujins.
Those led by Carlos Mario Jaramillo did a good race, defending with honor and pride the national jersey. Santiago Buitrago, who had mechanical problems in the last kilometers, came in 19th place, 2:15 behind the winner. Daniel Felipe Martinez was 25th, 2:20 behind Evenepoel.
With this new victory Evenepoel reached his second gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris, after winning the time trial last weekend, the Belgian now took the gold in the road race after arriving alone at the finish line.
The Olympic road cycling race in Paris promised to be a real battle of attrition, and so it was. The 273-kilometer course had 2,800 meters of elevation gain and a final mountainous obstacle: the Côte de la Butte Montmartre (1 km at 6.5%). This cobblestone climb was part of the final 18.4-kilometer lap. After riding this urban circuit two and a half times, the riders faced nine thousand flat meters to reach the finish line in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
Olympic Games ME – Road Race (Olympics)
París – París (272,1 km)
| 1 | EVENEPOEL Remco | Bélgica | 6:19:34 |
| 2 | MADOUAS Valentin | Francia | 1:11 |
| 3 | LAPORTE Christophe | Francia | 1:16 |
| 4 | VALTER Attila | Hungría | ,, |
| 5 | SKUJIŅŠ Toms | Letonia | ,, |
| 6 | HALLER Marco | Austria | ,, |
| 7 | KÜNG Stefan | Suiza | ,, |
| 8 | TRATNIK Jan | Eslovenia | ,, |
| 9 | JORGENSON Matteo | Estados Unidos | ,, |
| 10 | HEALY Ben | Irlanda | 1:20 |
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico