Cycling at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

The men's road race was one of 18 cycling events of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The race started and finished on 6 August at Fort Copacabana and was won by Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium. It was Belgium's first victory in the men's individual road race since 1952 and second overall, tying France and the Soviet Union for second-most behind Italy (five). Belgium matched Italy for most total medals, at seven. Jakob Fuglsang won Denmark's fourth silver medal in the event; the nation had yet to win gold. Rafał Majka's bronze was Poland's first medal in the event since 1980.

Men's cycling road race
at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
View of the start of the Men's road race.
VenueFort Copacabana
241.5 km (150.1 mi)
Date6 August 2016
Competitors144 from 63 nations
Winning time6:10:05
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Greg Van Avermaet
 Belgium
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Jakob Fuglsang
 Denmark
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Rafał Majka
 Poland
← 2012
2020 →

Qualification

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Nations could earn qualification spots primarily through UCI tours. The top five nations at the UCI World Tour earned five quota places, with nations further down the rankings earning progressively fewer quota places. There were also up to three places per nation available through continental tours and championships. Individuals could also earn places if their nation's ranking was insufficient. A few places were reserved for the host nation and Tripartite Commission invitations.[1]

Background

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This was the 20th appearance of the event, previously held in 1896 and then at every Summer Olympics since 1936. It replaced the individual time trial event that had been held from 1912 to 1932; the time trial had been re-introduced in 1996 alongside the road race. Azerbaijan, the Dominican Republic, Kosovo, and Laos each made their debut in the men's individual road race. Great Britain made its 20th appearance in the event, the only nation to have competed in each appearance to date.

Pre-race favourites

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Due to the grueling nature of the course, the riders expected to finish with a medal were all known for their climbing and descending skills.[according to whom?] Favorites heading into the race were Alejandro Valverde, Vincenzo Nibali, Chris Froome, Joaquim Rodríguez and Julian Alaphilippe.[2] If Froome had won gold, he would have become the first person to ever win Tour de France and the cycling road race in the same season.[3]

Course

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The men's course was 241.5 km (150.1 mi) long. Starting at Fort Copacabana,[4] the peloton headed west to pass through Ipanema, Barra, and Reserva Maripendi Beaches via the coastal road leading to the 24.8 km (15.4 mi) Pontal / Grumari circuit loop.[5] After four laps of the Grumari sector (99.2 km of 241.5 km), the course returned east via the same coastal road to enter the 25.7 km (16.0 mi) Vista Chinesa Circuit loop at Gávea for three laps (77.1 km (47.9 mi) of 241.5 km (150.1 mi)) before finishing back at Fort Copacabana.[6] As with all road races in the Olympic Games, the athletes are escorted by law enforcement to keep traffic and bystanders out of harm's way. For the 2016 Olympics, escort for the riders is done by the Brazilian Federal Highway Police (PRF).

2016 Olympic cycling road course maps

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2016 Olympic Cycling
Men's Road Course: 241.5 km
 
2016 Olympic Cycling
Grumari Circuit: 24.8 km
 
2016 Olympic Cycling
Vista Chinesa Circuit: 25.7 km

Schedule

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All times are Brasília Time (UTC−3).

Date Time Round
Saturday, 6 August 2016 9:30 Final

Start list

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The following NOCs had qualified riders to compete in the road race event. The following riders were confirmed by their respective NOCs.

Results

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In the table below, "s.t." indicates that the rider crossed the finish line in the same group as the cyclist before him, and was therefore credited with the same finishing time.[19][20]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time
  Greg Van Avermaet   Belgium 6h 10' 05"
  Jakob Fuglsang   Denmark s.t.
  Rafał Majka   Poland + 5"
4 Julian Alaphilippe   France + 22"
5 Joaquim Rodríguez   Spain s.t.
6 Fabio Aru   Italy s.t.
7 Louis Meintjes   South Africa s.t.
8 Andrey Zeits   Kazakhstan + 25"
9 Tanel Kangert   Estonia + 1' 47"
10 Rui Costa   Portugal + 2' 29"
11 Geraint Thomas   Great Britain s.t.
12 Chris Froome   Great Britain + 2' 58"
13 Dan Martin   Ireland s.t.
14 Emanuel Buchmann   Germany s.t.
15 Adam Yates   Great Britain + 3' 03"
16 Brent Bookwalter   United States + 3' 31"
17 Bauke Mollema   Netherlands s.t.
18 Kristijan Đurasek   Croatia s.t.
19 Sébastien Reichenbach   Switzerland s.t.
20 Fränk Schleck   Luxembourg s.t.
21 Esteban Chaves   Colombia + 3' 34"
22 Serge Pauwels   Belgium + 6' 12"
23 Alexis Vuillermoz   France s.t.
24 Romain Bardet   France s.t.
25 Simon Clarke   Australia s.t.
26 Primož Roglič   Slovenia + 9' 38"
27 Yukiya Arashiro   Japan s.t.
28 Daryl Impey   South Africa s.t.
29 Nicolas Roche   Ireland s.t.
30 Alejandro Valverde   Spain s.t.
31 Sergey Chernetskiy   Russia s.t.
32 Christopher Juul-Jensen   Denmark s.t.
33 George Bennett   New Zealand + 11' 49"
34 Fabian Cancellara   Switzerland s.t.
35 Ramūnas Navardauskas   Lithuania + 12' 18"
36 André Cardoso   Portugal s.t.
37 Eduardo Sepúlveda   Argentina s.t.
38 Pavel Kochetkov   Russia s.t.
39 Steven Kruijswijk   Netherlands s.t.
40 Damiano Caruso   Italy s.t.
41 Andriy Hrivko   Ukraine + 13' 18"
42 Philippe Gilbert   Belgium s.t.
43 Daniel Teklehaimanot   Eritrea + 19' 20"
44 Georg Preidler   Austria + 19' 37"
45 Patrik Tybor   Slovakia + 20' 00"
46 Aleksejs Saramotins   Latvia s.t.
47 Anass Aït El Abdia   Morocco s.t.
48 Lars Petter Nordhaug   Norway s.t.
49 Kanstantsin Sivtsov   Belarus s.t.
50 Vegard Stake Laengen   Norway s.t.
51 Ioannis Tamouridis   Greece s.t.
52 Jan Polanc   Slovenia s.t.
53 José Mendes   Portugal s.t.
54 Andrey Amador   Costa Rica s.t.
55 Michael Woods   Canada s.t.
56 Michał Gołaś   Poland s.t.
57 Simon Špilak   Slovenia s.t.
58 Petr Vakoč   Czech Republic s.t.
59 Toms Skujiņš   Latvia s.t.
60 Chris Anker Sørensen   Denmark s.t.
61 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev   Kazakhstan s.t.
62 Michał Kwiatkowski   Poland s.t.
63 Alessandro De Marchi   Italy + 20' 05"
Murilo Fischer   Brazil + 31' 47"[21]
Ignatas Konovalovas   Lithuania s.t.[21]
Jonathan Castroviejo   Spain DNF
Imanol Erviti   Spain DNF
Ion Izagirre   Spain DNF
Sergio Henao   Colombia DNF
Miguel Ángel López   Colombia DNF
Jarlinson Pantano   Colombia DNF
Rigoberto Urán   Colombia DNF
Warren Barguil   France DNF
Steve Cummings   Great Britain DNF
Ian Stannard   Great Britain DNF
Rohan Dennis   Australia DNF
Scott Bowden   Australia DNF
Richie Porte   Australia DNF
Laurens De Plus   Belgium DNF
Tim Wellens   Belgium DNF
Tom Dumoulin   Netherlands DNF
Wout Poels   Netherlands DNF
Vincenzo Nibali   Italy DNF
Diego Rosa   Italy DNF
Michael Albasini   Switzerland DNF
Steve Morabito   Switzerland DNF
Simon Geschke   Germany DNF
Maximilian Levy   Germany DNF
Tony Martin   Germany DNF
Edvald Boasson Hagen   Norway DNF
Sven Erik Bystrøm   Norway DNF
Maciej Bodnar   Poland DNF
Jan Bárta   Czech Republic DNF
Leopold König   Czech Republic DNF
Zdeněk Štybar   Czech Republic DNF
Denys Kostyuk   Ukraine DNF
Andriy Khripta   Ukraine DNF
Matej Mohorič   Slovenia DNF
Ghader Mizbani   Iran DNF
Arvin Moazzami   Iran DNF
Samad Pourseyedi   Iran DNF
Nelson Oliveira   Portugal DNF
Abderrahmane Mansouri   Algeria DNF
Youcef Reguigui   Algeria DNF
Stefan Denifl   Austria DNF
Soufiane Haddi   Morocco DNF
Mouhssine Lahsaini   Morocco DNF
Taylor Phinney   United States DNF
Rein Taaramäe   Estonia DNF
Zac Williams   New Zealand DNF
Antoine Duchesne   Canada DNF
Hugo Houle   Canada DNF
Vasil Kiryienka   Belarus DNF
Kohei Uchima   Japan DNF
Kim Ok-cheol   South Korea DNF
Seo Joon-yong   South Korea DNF
Jonathan Monsalve   Venezuela DNF
Miguel Ubeto   Venezuela DNF
Matija Kvasina   Croatia DNF
Daniel Díaz   Argentina DNF
Maximiliano Richeze   Argentina DNF
Cheung King Lok   Hong Kong DNF
José Luis Rodríguez Aguilar   Chile DNF
Adrien Niyonshuti   Rwanda DNF
Maksym Averin   Azerbaijan DNF
Serghei Țvetcov   Romania DNF
Luis Lemus   Mexico DNF
Onur Balkan   Turkey DNF
Ahmet Örken   Turkey DNF
Kléber Ramos   Brazil DNF
Ali Nouisri   Tunisia DNF
Stefan Hristov   Bulgaria DNF
Manuel Rodas   Guatemala DNF
Byron Guamá   Ecuador DNF
Ivan Stević   Serbia DNF
Tsgabu Grmay   Ethiopia DNF
Diego Milán   Dominican Republic DNF
Dan Craven   Namibia DNF
Óscar Soliz   Bolivia DNF
Qëndrim Guri   Kosovo DNF
Brian Babilonia   Puerto Rico DNF
Yousif Mirza   United Arab Emirates DNF
Ariya Phounsavath   Laos DNF
Alexey Kurbatov   Russia DNF

References

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  1. ^ NOCs qualified for Road Cycling men's events (PDF), UCI, 25 March 2015, p. 2
  2. ^ "Olympic Cycling: Rio 2016 men's road race preview". skysports.com. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  3. ^ Cary, Tom (5 August 2016). "Rio Olympics 2016: Team GB believe Chris Froome can make history in cycling road race". The Telegraph. telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  4. ^ "Rio Olympic Games Facilities: Copacabana Region". brasil2016.gov.br. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  5. ^ "Rio Olympic Games Facilities: Barra Region". brasil2016.gov.br. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  6. ^ Rio 2016 Road Cycling - Men's Race updated (PDF), UCI, 25 March 2015, p. 2
  7. ^ "Short news: Argentina confirms Rio line-up". Cyclingnews.com. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  8. ^ "Australian Simon Clarke called up for Olympic Road Race". cyclingnews.com. 23 July 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  9. ^ "Australian team ready for Olympic Road Race". cyclingnews.com. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  10. ^ "Brasil define equipe do ciclismo de estrada para os Jogos do Rio 2016" (in Portuguese). Globoesporte.com. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  11. ^ "Colombia Confirms Selection for Rio 2016". revistamundociclistico.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  12. ^ "Pantano replaces Nairo Quintana on Colombia's Rio Olympics roster". cyclingnews.com. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  13. ^ "Josué González ranks the country for the Olympics". nacion.com. 10 May 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  14. ^ "Tsgabu Grmay wins Gold Medal". ethiosports.com. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  15. ^ "Rio 2016: Steve Cummings replaces Peter Kennaugh in GB road race team". BBC Sport. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  16. ^ "Team Ireland Grows For Rio 2016 with Cycling and Modern Pentathlon". olympics.ie. Archived from the original on 7 July 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  17. ^ "Kruijswijks performance pushes Gesink out of Rio Selection". www.nos.nl. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  18. ^ Doup, Nick (30 June 2016). "Zwitserland neemt Cancellara mee voor olympische tijdrit" [Switzerland takes Cancellara for Olympic time trial]. Wieler Flits (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  19. ^ Elton-Walters, Jack (6 August 2016). "Greg Van Avermaet wins Rio 2016 Olympic men's road race". Cycling Weekly. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  20. ^ "Men's Road Race - Standings". Rio2016. 11 August 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  21. ^ a b Unranked due to being over time limit.