Remco Evenepoel took time trial gold with a sensational ride in difficult conditions around the streets of Paris.
Evenepoel won the second cycling gold of the 2024 Olympic Games and was best at every time check in what was a tight race with time trial rival Filippo Ganna, who took the silver medal 15 seconds down.
His compatriot Wout Van Aert finished with the bronze medal while riding his innovative 'double-disc' setup. Great Britain & Northern Ireland's Josh Tarling was just two seconds shy of a medal after suffering a front wheel puncture early on.
“I cannot describe the feeling I had on the podium”, Evenepoel told media after accepting his medal.
“It’s a magical moment in my life. We watched the women’s race before we got into our warm-up and we saw the crashes so we decided not to take any risks in the corners and to push a bit more on the straights, and it was a good strategy."
"With a third spot in the Tour de France and a victory here, tiredness doesn’t matter, the motivation and the positive feelings overtake everything,” Evenepoel said.
The rains of the previous evening's opening ceremony continued into the morning and throughout the race. It meant that a course that was already criticised for its cracks and potholes was even more dangerous. Riders were seen taking corners cautiously, hoping not to ruin their Olympic dreams early.
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TV graphics early on had shown Brit Tarling to be in the lead before a front puncture ground him to a halt and forced a bike change. The 20 year old was disappointed as he spoke to Eurosport.
"S**t happens, eh? Everyone put a lot of effort in and... it happens... [I had a] front puncture and it was on the rim. With that corner coming up I had to change."
"Right now it's annoying... I've still got the road race to come so I'll give that a good go."
Few events at this year's Olympic Games will give viewers a better tour of Paris and its many landmarks than the road cycling time trial. Unfortunately, any striking Parisian views were covered in cloud and downpour as the weather became a major feature of the race.
Italy's Alberto Bettiol was the rider who made the strongest early effort, leading through each time check as he powered on to a time of 38:06.
The conditions were similar to the women's event earlier in the day, which was marred by crashes and mechanicals. British medal-favourite Josh Tarling fell foul of the latter, suffering a front wheel puncture in the opening kilometres of his ride. Shortly after, Tarling's Ineos Grenadiers team mate Magnus Sheffield crashed. Bothlooked like the were heading for a high placing before their incidents.
Czechia's Mathias Vacek took over the lead by two seconds over Ryan Mullen of Ireland as the favourites began to make their way through the course. Wout van Aert, riding his double-disc setup, took the lead at the first intermediate with ten riders left. Tarling, despite his mishap, was just three seconds down on the Belgian and Australia's Luke Plapp just a second behind, but failed to finish the course after crashing.
Filippo Ganna moved ahead before Remco Evenepoel blasted through seven seconds in front of the Italian. Just 13 seconds split the top six after the first 13.1 kilometres.
At the finish, Stefan Bissegger took a brief lead before Wout van Aert flew over the line a minute quicker than the Swiss rider. The Belgian's leading time at the second intermediate looked to be standing up well too, overhauling Filippo Ganna and holding a five second lead before his compatriot Evenepoel came across the 22 kilometre time check.
Evenepoel was flying round the course and led Van Aert by eleven seconds at the second time check. Ganna was ahead of Tarling by just two seconds as they tussled for the final spot in the medals. The Italian had to save himself from crashing with a few kilometres of his ride still to go after striking a barrier, his momentum suffering as a result.
Tarling fell short of Van Aert's time by just two seconds and would finish a disappointed fourth in the end.
Having lost significant time to Van Aert before the second intermediate point, Ganna made a magnificent counter-punch in the final ten kilometres to finish ten seconds ahead of the Belgian.
It was not enough for Ganna to overhaul Evenepoel, though. The reigning time trial world champion stayed strong and stayed upright to beat the Italian by 15 seconds, with an average speed of 53.7kph.
Dan Challis is a freelance journalist based in the Scottish Borders. As well as writing for Cycling Weekly and CyclingNews, Dan also writes a weekly newsletter called Global Peloton.
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