The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games men's road race start list looks as star-studded as ever for 2021, with national teams fielding their strongest riders in the hunt for the gold medal.
With the Games only taking place every four years, opportunities for riders to take a prestigious gold in the road race are few during their careers, and this year the climbers will have a great chance at victory on the tough 234km course in Tokyo.
Originally scheduled for July 2020, the men's road race now takes place on July 24 2021 after the Olympics were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
That also meant the 2021 Tour de France had to be brought forward, starting on June 26, giving riders at the Grande Boucle a chance to get to Japan in time to compete in the road race.
One of those who flew straight from France to the Games is defending champion Greg Van Avermaet, who will hope to rediscover some of the scintillating form he had in 2016 when he beat Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) to the gold. Van Avermaet will be part of a powerful Belgian team that also includes two of cycling's biggest young stars Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel.
Slovenia also look like one of the teams to beat as they bring two Grand Tour stars Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar, as are GB with three Grand Tour winners in Simon Yates, Geraint Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart, along with Simon's brother Adam.
There are 130 riders set to start the Olympic road race, with Belgium, Colombia, France, Italy, and the Netherlands the teams with maximum allocation of five riders.
Australia (who will only use three), Denmark, Great Britain, Germany, Norway, Slovenia, and Switzerland all have four-rider teams, while Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Poland, South Africa, and Russia have three. Every other team has one or two riders.
The allocation of spots is decided by the UCI and is based on national and individual rankings from the season prior to the Games, in this case 2019. Once the National Olympic Committees confirm their use of their quota, the UCI can then redistribute the remaining spots to other teams.
All the teams are now confirmed with race numbers from one to 130. Van Avermaet, as defending champion, will wear the number one bib.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games men's road race start list
Belgium
1 VAN AVERMAET Greg
2 BENOOT Tiesj
3 EVENEPOEL Remco
4 VAN AERT Wout
5 VANSEVENANT Mauri
Slovenia
6 POGAČAR Tadej
7 POLANC Jan
8 ROGLIČ Primož
9 TRATNIK Jan
France
10 CAVAGNA Rémi
11 COSNEFROY Benoît
12 ELISSONDE Kenny
13 GAUDU David
14 MARTIN Guillaume
Spain
15 FRAILE Omar
16 HERRADA Jesús
17 IZAGIRRE Gorka
18 IZAGIRRE Ion
19 VALVERDE Alejandro
Great Britain
20 GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
21 THOMAS Geraint
22 YATES Simon
23 YATES Adam
Italy
24 BETTIOL Alberto
25 CARUSO Damiano
26 CICCONE Giulio
27 MOSCON Gianni
28 NIBALI Vincenzo
Netherlands
29 DUMOULIN Tom
30 HAVIK Yoeri
31 KELDERMAN Wilco
32 MOLLEMA Bauke
33 VAN BAARLE Dylan
Colombia
34 CHAVES Esteban
35 HIGUITA Sergio
37 QUINTANA Nairo
38 URÁN Rigoberto
Australia
40 DURBRIDGE Luke
41 HAMILTON Lucas
42 PORTE Richie
Denmark
43 ASGREEN Kasper
44 FUGLSANG Jakob
45 JUUL-JENSEN Christopher
46 VALGREN Michael
Germany
47 ARNDT Nikias
48 BUCHMANN Emanuel
49 GESCHKE Simon
50 SCHACHMANN Maximilian
Switzerland
51 HIRSCHI Marc
52 KÜNG Stefan
53 MÄDER Gino
54 SCHÄR Michael
Portugal
55 ALMEIDA João
56 OLIVEIRA Nelson
Ireland
57 DUNBAR Eddie
58 MARTIN Dan
59 ROCHE Nicolas
Ecuador
60 CARAPAZ Richard
61 NARVÁEZ Jhonatan
Russian Olympic Committee
62 SIVAKOV Pavel
63 VLASOV Aleksandr
64 ZAKARIN Ilnur
Norway
65 FOSS Tobias
66 HOELGAARD Markus
67 JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland
68 LEKNESSUND Andreas
Poland
69 BODNAR Maciej
70 KWIATKOWSKI Michał
71 MAJKA Rafał
New Zealand
72 BENNETT George
73 BEVIN Patrick
South Africa
74 DE BOD Stefan
75 DLAMINI Nic
76 GIBBONS Ryan
Canada
77 BOIVIN Guillaume
78 HOULE Hugo
79 WOODS Michael
Czech Republic
80 KUKRLE Michael
81 SCHLEGEL Michal
82 ŠTYBAR Zdeněk
Austria
83 KONRAD Patrick
84 MÜHLBERGER Gregor
85 PERNSTEINER Hermann
USA
86 CRADDOCK Lawson
87 MCNULTY Brandon
Slovakia
88 KUBIŠ Lukáš
89 SAGAN Juraj
Kazakhstan
90 GRUZDEV Dmitriy
91 LUTSENKO Alexey
92 PRONSKIY Vadim
Ukraine
93 BUDYAK Anatoliy
Estonia
94 KANGERT Tanel
95 PRUUS Peeter
Eritrea
96 GHEBREIGZABHIER Amanuel
97 KUDUS Merhawi
Latvia
98 NEILANDS Krists
99 SKUJIŅŠ Toms
Luxembourg
100 GENIETS Kevin
101 RIES Michel
Belarus
102 RIABUSHENKO Aleksandr
Algeria
103 LAGAB Azzedine
104 MANSOURI Hamza
Romania
105 GROSU Eduard-Michael
Lithuania
106 ŠIŠKEVIČIUS Evaldas
Hungary
107 VALTER Attila
Greece
108 TZORTZAKIS Polychronis
Panama
109 JURADO LOPEZ Christofer
Mexico
110 FRAYRE MOCTEZUMA Eder
Japan
111 ARASHIRO Yukiya
112 MASUDA Nariyuki
Guatemala
113 RODAS OCHOA Manuel Oseas
Rwanda
114 MUGISHA Moise
Namibia
115 de LANGE Tristan
Venezuela
116 AULAR SANABRIA Orluis Alberto
Turkey
117 BALKAN Onur
118 ORKEN Ahmet
Croatia
119 RUMAC Josip
Burkina Faso
120 DAUMONT Paul
China
121 WANG Ruidong
Iran
122 SAFARZADEH Saeid
Argentina
123 SEPULVEDA Eduardo
Uzbekistan
124 KHALMURATOV Muradjan
Morocco
125 EL KOURAJI Mohcine
Costa Rica
126 AMADOR Andrey
Azerbaijan
127 ASADOV Elchin
Peru
128 NAVARRO CALLE Royner
Chinese Taipei
129 FENG Chun Kai
Hong Kong
130 CHOY Hiu Fung
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