The world’s best road cyclists will finally converge this weekend at the men’s and women’s Paris Olympic Games road races, following an unaccustomed three-year wait since the last Games in Tokyo.
Among the big favourites are two riders from Belgium – Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert, who have both already won medals in the time trial, Evenepoel striking gold, Van Aert bronze.
Evenepoel’s win in that event was all the more impressive due to coming just a week after he finished third in the Tour de France.
The men who beat him in that race, Tadej Pogačar of Slovenia and Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark, will not be in Paris though, having chosen to sit this one out. Pogačar’s absence in particular has raised eyebrows, with the non-selection of his girlfriend Urška Zigart apparently playing a role in his decision not to attend.
The British assault features a strong four-man team including Tom Pidcock – who has already won mountain bike gold at Paris – and Josh Tarling, whose heartbreakingly unlucky puncture in the time trial cost him a medal. They will be accompanied by super-climber Stevie Williams and strong all-rounder Fred Wright.
Great Britain is one of only five teams who have qualified the maximum four riders for the event – the others being Belgium, France, Slovenia and Denmark.
The USA’s three-man team features Tour de France star Matteo Jorgensen, accompanied by Magnus Sheffield and Brandon McNulty.
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This race is not all about the same old big names from the same old major cycling nations though, and there will be 89 participants from a total of 52 countries from all over the world.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Paris Olympic Games 2024 men’s road race start list
Belgium EVENEPOEL Remco VAN AERT Wout STUYVEN Jasper BENOOT Tiesj
Great Britain TARLING Joshua WRIGHT Fred WILLIAMS Stephen PIDCOCK Thomas
United States MCNULTY Brandon JORGENSON Matteo SHEFFIELD Magnus
Slovenia TRATNIK Jan MEZGEC Luka MOHORIČ Matej NOVAK Domen
France VAUQUELIN Kévin MADOUAS Valentin LAPORTE Christophe ALAPHILIPPE Julian
Spain ARANBURU Alex AYUSO Juan LAZKANO Oier
Netherlands HOOLE Daan VAN BAARLE Dylan VAN DER POEL Mathieu
Italy BETTIOL Alberto MOZZATO Luca VIVIANI Elia
Australia CLARKE Simon O’CONNOR Ben MATTHEWS Michael
Switzerland KÜNG Stefan HIRSCHI Marc
Portugal COSTA Rui OLIVEIRA Nelson
Colombia BUITRAGO Santiago MARTÍNEZ Daniel Felipe
Norway WÆRENSKJOLD Søren FOSS Tobias
Germany POLITT Nils SCHACHMANN Maximilian
Austria HALLER Marco GROßSCHARTNER Felix
Ireland HEALY Ben MULLEN Ryan
Canada WOODS Michael GEE Derek
Kazakhstan LUTSENKO Alexey FEDOROV Yevgeniy
New Zealand PITHIE Laurence STRONG Corbin
Eritrea GIRMAY Biniam
Individual Neutral Athletes SYRITSA Gleb
Ecuador NARVÁEZ Jhonatan
Poland ANIOŁKOWSKI Stanisław
Hungary VALTER Attila
Latvia SKUJIŅŠ Toms
Morocco ED DOGHMY Achraf
Czech Republic VACEK Mathias
Mongolia SAINBAYAR Jambaljamts
Japan ARASHIRO Yukiya
Algeria HAMZA Yacine
Slovakia KUBIŠ Lukáš
Uzbekistan BOCHAROV Dmitriy
Luxembourg KIRSCH Alex
Venezuela AULAR Orluis
Israel EINHORN Itamar
Estonia MIHKELS Madis
Turkey ABAY Burak
Panama ARCHIBOLD Franklin
Thailand CHAIYASOMBAT Thanakhan
Argentina SEPÚLVEDA Eduardo
Ukraine BUDYAK Anatoliy
China LYU Xianjing
Iran LABIB SHOTORBAN Ali
Hong Kong LAU Wan Yau Vincent
Rwanda MANIZABAYO Eric
South Korea KIM Euro
Denmark BJERG Mikkel SKJELMOSE Mattias PEDERSEN Mads MØRKØV Michael
