Preview of the Olympic road races

One medal both Olympic Games is considered the crowning achievement in many disciplines – and also in Road cycling Olympic gold is highly coveted. The men will meet less than two weeks after the end of the 2024 Tour de France. Tour and Giro winner Tadej Pogacar, however, is skipping out on his Olympic start due to fatigue. The women will be competing in their road race just under a week before the Grand Départ of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Who has the best chances on the Paris street circuit?

Men's race

The men's Olympic road race will start at 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 3, 2024. The team is looking for the successor to Richard Carapaz, who won the gold medal for Ecuador in Tokyo in 2021.

The route

A total of 272.1 kilometers are on the program for the men. First, they head southwest out of Paris and make large loops back to the French capital. The profile is undulating all day long, and the three final laps around Montmartre are tough – not least because the climb is 1.1 kilometers long at a gradient of six percent and on cobblestones. Fortunately, the weather is supposed to be dry on Saturday.

The favorites

Mathieu van der Poel goes into the race as the reigning world champion. The Dutchman remained largely unimpressed at the Tour de France, but that doesn't have to mean anything: in 2023, after an unremarkable tour, he raced into the world champion's rainbow jersey in Glasgow two weeks later.

Wout van Aert won Olympic silver in the road race in Tokyo 2021 and is now dreaming of gold after bronze in the individual time trial. His form curve has recently been on the up after the Belgian had to take a break for several weeks in the spring following a serious crash at Dwars Door Vlaanderen.

Remco Evenepoel goes into the road race alongside Wout van Aert without any pressure – after all, the 24-year-old won the Olympic individual time trial last Saturday. If the race turns out to be difficult, the Belgian could put the other teams under pressure early on with a solo advance.

Mads Pedersen loves long, difficult races in which a group sprints for victory at the end – this is how the Dane became road world champion in 2019. However, his preparation was massively disrupted by his early crash at the Tour de France – it is questionable whether he has recovered sufficiently from this.

Marc Hirschi was only included in the Swiss Olympic squad at short notice, as his compatriots Stefan Bissegger and Stefan Küng cancelled at short notice. Hirschi won the Czech Cycling Tour at the end of July and is considered a strong all-rounder with a decent sprint.

Biniam Girmay made history at the Tour de France when he became the first Eritrean to win a stage and secure the green jersey. However, the 24-year-old has no teammates at his side as his country only receives a starting place for the road race.

Nils Politt and Maximilian Schachmann represent the German Cycling Association in Paris, but have little chance of winning a medal. Nevertheless, both have recently shown themselves to be in good form – Politt as a strong helper to Tour winner Tadej Pogacar, Schachmann as ninth in the Olympic time trial. Another top ten result from either of them would be a satisfactory result.

The transfer

Eurosport and ARD will broadcast the Olympic road race in full on Saturday, August 3, 2024, starting at 11 a.m. in a live stream and the decision will be broadcast live on TV.

Women's race

In 2021, there was a huge surprise in Tokyo when Austrian Anna Kiesenhofer, as a soloist, fooled the highly favored Dutch women and won the gold medal as the last remaining breakaway athlete. A similar sensation is not expected this year, but the women's race for Olympic gold still seems very open.

The route

The women have to complete a total of 157.6 kilometers. As with the men, the race will initially head southwest out of Paris, but after just one loop it will be back again. There are three challenging final laps around Montmartre, where the race will be decided between the sprinters, all-rounders and climbers. The weather forecast for Sunday is also predicting pleasant, dry conditions for the women.

The favorites

Lotte Kopecky wears the rainbow jersey of the road world champion and dominated the one-day races this season. As captain of the Belgian team, the 28-year-old is considered the top favorite.

Demi Vollering is currently probably the best all-round rider and has also celebrated major victories in demanding one-day events. For her taste, the course could have even more elevation – but she is still one of the contenders for gold.

Lorena Wiebes is probably the best sprinter in the women's peloton and is hoping for a final sprint from a larger group. However, she shares the captain's role with Vollering and Marianne Vos – it will be exciting to see how the Dutch women decide on the distribution of roles.

Marianne Vos won gold in the road race in London in 2012 and dreams of another medal. As a strong all-rounder, she has a good sprint, which could ultimately secure her the desired medal.

Elisa Longo Borghini from Italy has already won major classics such as the Tour of Flanders, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix thanks to her versatility – and won the bronze medal in the Olympic road race in Tokyo 2021 and Rio 2016.

Juliette Labous carries the French hopes of a medal at the home games. The course might be a little too easy for the little climber, but the motivation in front of the home fans should be immense.

Liane Lippert, Franziska Koch and Antonia Niedermaier will be competing for the German team. Lippert would be capable of winning a medal if she were in top form, but a stress fracture meant that the Firedrichshafen native was unable to race again until the end of April. At least she won a stage at the Giro d'Italia in July. Franziska Koch and Antonia Niedermaier will probably start the race with support roles or will be used as tactical cards.

The transfer

Eurosport and ARD will broadcast the Olympic road race in full on Saturday, August 4, 2024, starting at 2 p.m. in a live stream and the decision will be broadcast live on TV.