Cycling at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race
| Men's cycling road race at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
|
|||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
View of the start of the Men's road race.
|
|||||||||||||
| Venue |
Fort Copacabana 241.5 km (150.1 mi) |
||||||||||||
| Date | 6 August 2016 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 144 from 63 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 6:10:05 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
Greg Van Avermaet |
 Belgium
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Jakob Fuglsang |
 Denmark
|
|
|
Rafał Majka |
 Poland
|
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.
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. Although the general list of favorites heading into the race were Chris Froome, Alejandro Valverde, Vincenzo Nibali, Michał Kwiatkowski, Rui Costa, and Romain Bardet, many expected that Chris Froome may have had the assistance of some of his Team Sky teammates and the advantage of attempting something historic: If he 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.
The men's course was 241.5 km (150.1 mi) long. Starting at Fort Copacabana, 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. 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. 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).
...
Wikipedia