2020 Olympics Cycling:
Men's Road Race
July 24, 2021
Saturday, July 24 (date on map is in error): Men's road race.
234 kilometers with 4,865 meters of elevation gain.
Results | Photos | Course map & profile | Startlist
Richard Carapaz is the new Olympic road race champion.
Weather at Fuji Shi, near the finish at 12:15 PM, local time: 31C (87F), partly cloudy, with the wind from the south-southeast at 8 km/hr (6 mph). There is an 18% chance of rain.
The race: Here's the UCI's race summary:
Richard Carapaz has made history again. A week after becoming the first Ecuadorian podium finisher of the Tour de France, and a couple of years after winning the Giro d’Italia – an unprecedented feat for an Ecuadorian rider – the climber raised in the Carchi province claimed glory in the men’s road race, the opening cycling event of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
Carapaz smiled, winked and grimaced at the cameras in contagious joy as he brought Ecuador their second gold medal in the history of the Olympic Games. Wout van Aert finished second for Belgium as he outsprinted Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar in the chase group.
Slovenia and Belgium control the early race
The peloton of 129 riders started at 11am local time from Musashinonomori Park without Australia’s Rohan Dennis, who was focusing on the time trial. Germany’s Simon Geschke and Czech Republic’s Michael Schlegel did not take the start after returning positive Covid-19 tests.
The participants had 234 demanding kilometres ahead of them to reach the finish at the Fuji International Speedway. Eight riders went on the move as soon as the flag dropped and quickly opened a significant gap ahead of the route’s main challenges.
Nicholas Dlamini (RSA), Michael Kukrle (CZE), Juraj Sagan (SVK), Polychronis Tzortzakis (GRE), Eduard-Michael Grosu (ROU), Orluis Alberto Aular Sanabria (VEN), Paul Daumont (BUR) and Elchin Asadov (AZE) brought their lead up to over 10 minutes as they hit the first slopes of the long steady climb of Doushi Road.
Slovenia and Belgium drove the peloton in these early stages of the race, with the 2016 Olympic Champion Greg Van Avermaet pulling the bunch himself on the first climb of the day. The gap increased to 18’45’’ with 170km to go.
Only seven riders remained at the front after Asadov lost contact on a short downhill section. Namibia’s Tristan de Lange set off in pursuit but was caught after 25km of effort, just as Slovenia’s Jan Tratnik increased the pace in the bunch alongside Van Avermaet. Around the same time, Daumont and Grosu were dropped from the front group, whose lead to the bunch reduced to 16’ as the race entered the last 140km.
Mount Fuji sets the stage for a thrilling finale
The intensity steadily increased en route to the second ascent, the Fuji Sanroku climb (14.3km at an average gradient of 6%), on the slopes of Mount Fuji. As the peloton thinned out so did the gap to the front of the race, coming down to 10’25’’ when the leaders still had 100km to go.
With the summit of the Fuji Sanroku climb still 4km away, Van Avermaet was dropped from the bunch after his early work, but Tratnik maintained a strong pace. And Italy’s Giulio Ciccone, following an earlier crash also involving Geraint Thomas (GBR) and Nairo Quintana (COL), turned up the intensity as he took the helm of the bunch near the summit.
Many riders couldn’t keep up with this hard pace on a demanding terrain and with hot and humid conditions. Spain’s Alejandro Valverde, participating in his fifth successive Olympic Games, was among the main dropped contenders as the peloton crested the Fuji Sanroku climb with a gap of 5’.
Juraj Sagan was the first rider across the finish line, as the early attackers rode through the Fuji Speedway before heading to the mighty climb of Mikuni Pass: 6.5km at an average gradient of 10.6%, with sections reaching 20%.
Attacks already flew ahead of the climb, with Dutch and Italian riders showing their willingness to open up the race. Remco Evenepoel was prompt to react for the Belgians but everyone, including the breakaway riders, was caught with 48km remaining.
Pogačar opens up the race, Carapaz finishes off
Evenepoel was soon dropped on the Mikuni Pass climb and it didn’t take much longer before Pogačar launched a strong acceleration. Only Brandon McNulty (USA) and Michael Woods (CAN) followed the recent winner of the Tour de France while Van Aert tried to control the gap.
Carapaz, Michal Kwiatkowski (POL) and Alberto Bettiol (ITA) were the first to join the leading trio, with 35km to go. They were quickly followed by Rigoberto Urán (COL). Van Aert also bridged the gap with David Gaudu (FRA), Bauke Mollema (NED) and Jakob Fuglsang (DEN). Maximilian Schachmann (GER) and Adam Yates (GBR) made it 13 riders at the front on the short following descent, with around 30km to go.
After a series of attacks and countermoves, Carapaz and McNulty crested the final climb of the day, Kagosaka Pass, alone. Their lead was just above 20’’ with just over 20km remaining. The gap had risen to 45’’ when Van Aert powerfully accelerated with 12km to go. His move cut Carapaz and McNulty’s lead to 20’’ heading into the last 10km.
With the chasers moving closer and closer, Carapaz went on his own with 6km to go. And there was no coming back for his rivals, settling for the sprint for silver. Van Aert opened up the final run in to the line and narrowly edged out Pogačar as the duo joined Carapaz on the Olympic podium.
The podium, from left: Wout van Aert (2nd), Richard Carapaz (1st) & Tadej Pogacar (3rd).
234 kilometers raced at an average speed of 38.420 km/hr
| 1 | CARAPAZ Richard | Ecuador | 6hr 5min 26sec |
| 2 | VAN AERT Wout | Belgium | @ 1min 7sec |
| 3 | POGAČAR Tadej | Slovenia | s.t. |
| 4 | MOLLEMA Bauke | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 5 | WOODS Michael | Canada | s.t. |
| 6 | MCNULTY Brandon | United States | s.t. |
| 7 | GAUDU David | France | s.t. |
| 8 | URÁN Rigoberto | Colombia | s.t. |
| 9 | YATES Adam | Great Britain | s.t. |
| 10 | SCHACHMANN Maximilian | Germany | 1:21 |
| 11 | KWIATKOWSKI Michał | Poland | 1:35 |
| 12 | FUGLSANG Jakob | Denmark | 2:43 |
| 13 | ALMEIDA João | Portugal | 3:38 |
| 14 | BETTIOL Alberto | Italy | s.t. |
| 15 | VAN BAARLE Dylan | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 16 | MARTIN Dan | Ireland | s.t. |
| 17 | YATES Simon | Great Britain | s.t. |
| 18 | KONRAD Patrick | Austria | s.t. |
| 19 | MAJKA Rafał | Poland | 3:40 |
| 20 | MOSCON Gianni | Italy | 3:42 |
| 21 | LUTSENKO Alexey | Kazakhstan | 6:20 |
| 22 | SKUJIŅŠ Toms | Latvia | s.t. |
| 23 | IZAGIRRE Gorka | Spain | s.t. |
| 24 | CARUSO Damiano | Italy | s.t. |
| 25 | HIRSCHI Marc | Switzerland | s.t. |
| 26 | BENNETT George | New Zealand | s.t. |
| 27 | MARTIN Guillaume | France | s.t. |
| 28 | ROGLIČ Primož | Slovenia | s.t. |
| 29 | BUCHMANN Emanuel | Germany | s.t. |
| 30 | PERNSTEINER Hermann | Austria | 7:51 |
| 31 | SCHÄR Michael | Switzerland | s.t. |
| 32 | SIVAKOV Pavel | Russia | s.t. |
| 33 | NEILANDS Krists | Latvia | 10:12 |
| 34 | HOELGAARD Markus | Norway | s.t. |
| 35 | ARASHIRO Yukiya | Japan | s.t. |
| 36 | KUKRLE Michael | Czech Republic | s.t. |
| 37 | GENIETS Kevin | Luxembourg | s.t. |
| 38 | ELISSONDE Kenny | France | s.t. |
| 39 | FRAYRE Eder | Mexico | s.t. |
| 40 | KÜNG Stefan | Switzerland | s.t. |
| 41 | OLIVEIRA Nelson | Portugal | s.t. |
| 42 | VALVERDE Alejandro | Spain | s.t. |
| 43 | POLANC Jan | Slovenia | s.t. |
| 44 | DUMOULIN Tom | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 45 | CHAVES Esteban | Colombia | s.t. |
| 46 | KANGERT Tanel | Estonia | s.t. |
| 47 | NARVÁEZ Jhonatan | Ecuador | s.t. |
| 48 | PORTE Richie | Australia | s.t. |
| 49 | EVENEPOEL Remco | Belgium | s.t. |
| 50 | GHEBREIGZABHIER Amanuel | Eritrea | s.t. |
| 51 | KELDERMAN Wilco | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 52 | DE BOD Stefan | South Africa | 11:27 |
| 53 | NIBALI Vincenzo | Italy | s.t. |
| 54 | ARNDT Nikias | Germany | s.t. |
| 55 | KUDUS Merhawi | Eritrea | s.t. |
| 56 | BUDYAK Anatoliy | Ukraine | s.t. |
| 57 | COSNEFROY Benoît | France | s.t. |
| 58 | BENOOT Tiesj | Belgium | s.t. |
| 59 | VLASOV Aleksandr | Russia | s.t. |
| 60 | CICCONE Giulio | Italy | s.t. |
| 61 | FOSS Tobias | Norway | s.t. |
| 62 | HERRADA Jesús | Spain | s.t. |
| 63 | TZORTZAKIS Polychronis | Greece | 16:20 |
| 64 | HALMURATOV Muradjan | Uzbekistan | s.t. |
| 65 | BOIVIN Guillaume | Canada | s.t. |
| 66 | RIABUSHENKO Alexandr | Belarus | s.t. |
| 67 | TRATNIK Jan | Slovenia | s.t. |
| 68 | AMADOR Andrey | Costa Rica | s.t. |
| 69 | QUINTANA Nairo | Colombia | s.t. |
| 70 | MÜHLBERGER Gregor | Austria | s.t. |
| 71 | HAMILTON Lucas | Australia | s.t. |
| 72 | DURBRIDGE Luke | Australia | s.t. |
| 73 | RIES Michel | Luxembourg | s.t. |
| 74 | MÄDER Gino | Switzerland | s.t. |
| 75 | ROCHE Nicolas | Ireland | s.t. |
| 76 | DUNBAR Eddie | Ireland | s.t. |
| 77 | VANSEVENANT Mauri | Belgium | s.t. |
| 78 | VALGREN Michael | Denmark | s.t. |
| 79 | IZAGIRRE Ion | Spain | s.t. |
| 80 | CRADDOCK Lawson | United States | s.t. |
| 81 | HIGUITA Sergio | Colombia | s.t. |
| 82 | JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland | Norway | 19:46 |
| 83 | LEKNESSUND Andreas | Norway | s.t. |
| 84 | MASUDA Nariyuki | Japan | 19:50 |
| 85 | HOULE Hugo | Canada | s.t. |
| DNF | VALTER Attila | Hungary | |
| DNF | VAN AVERMAET Greg | Belgium | |
| DNF | ŠIŠKEVIČIUS Evaldas | Lithuania | |
| DNF | RUMAC Josip | Croatia | |
| DNF | SAFARZADEH Saeeid | Iran | |
| DNF | THOMAS Geraint | Great Britain | |
| DNF | FENG Chun Kai | Taiwan | |
| DNF | ASADOV Elchin | Azerbaijan | |
| DNF | GIBBONS Ryan | South Africa | |
| DNF | KUBIŠ Lukáš | Slovakia | |
| DNF | MUGISHA Moise | Rwanda | |
| DNF | JUUL-JENSEN Christopher | Denmark | |
| DNF | HAVIK Yoeri | Netherlands | |
| DNF | BODNAR Maciej | Poland | |
| DNF | GEOGHEGAN HART Tao | Great Britain | |
| DNF | DLAMINI Nic | South Africa | |
| DNF | LAGAB Azzedine | Algeria | |
| DNF | DE LANGE Tristan | Namibia | |
| DNF | RODAS Manuel | Guatemala | |
| DNF | CHOI Hiu Fung | Hong Kong | |
| DNF | ZAKARIN Ilnur | Russia | |
| DNF | EL KOURAJI Mohcine | Morocco | |
| DNF | AULAR Orluis | Venezuela | |
| DNF | GROSU Eduard-Michael | Romania | |
| DNF | BALKAN Onur | Turkey | |
| DNF | SEPÚLVEDA Eduardo | Argentina | |
| DNF | FRAILE Omar | Spain | |
| DNF | NAVARRO Royner | Peru | |
| DNF | PRUUS Peeter | Estonia | |
| DNF | GRUZDEV Dmitriy | Kazakhstan | |
| DNF | CAVAGNA Rémi | France | |
| DNF | DAUMONT Paul | Burkina Faso | |
| DNF | ÖRKEN Ahmet | Turkey | |
| DNF | PRONSKIY Vadim | Kazakhstan | |
| DNF | JURADO Christofer Robín | Panama | |
| DNF | MANSOURI Hamza | Algeria | |
| DNF | ŠTYBAR Zdeněk | Czech Republic | |
| DNF | BEVIN Patrick | New Zealand | |
| DNF | SAGAN Juraj | Slovakia | |
| DNF | ASGREEN Kasper | Denmark | |
| DNF | WANG Ruidong | China | |
| DNS | GESCHKE Simon | Germany | |
| DNS | SCHLEGEL Michal | Czech Republic |
Men's road race photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:
Bauke Mollema heading to the race start.
Dan Martin
Kevin Geniets rides to the start
The Italian team before the race.
Spectators at the Fuji Speedway.
Racers on the speedway.
Another shot of riders on the Fuji Speedway.
Richard Carapaz is the Olympic road race champion.
Here they come to see who will get the silver medal.
The field sprint for second. Wout van Aert is on the far right and will win it.
Wout van Aert was second. That's Bauke Mollema in orange behind him.
Tadej Pogacar finishing third.
Carapaz right after the race
Olympic champion Richard Carapaz
The podium, from left: Wout van Aert (2nd), Richard Carapaz (1st) & Tadej Pogacar (3rd).
Men's road race map & profile
Start list with backnumbers, July 23, 2021:
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |