The Olympics might be over for another four years, but they once again provided us with some sensational cycling moments across the multiple disciplines of road, track, mountain bike and BMX. Here are eight of the best…
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Road cycling
Kristen Faulkner flies the coop
Zac Williams/ZW Photography
At the end of a dramatic women’s road race, Kristen Faulkner embarked on a last-ditch solo breakaway to become the first American woman in 40 years since Connie Carpenter-Phinney to win the gold medal. Dropping her rivals of Marianne Vos (Netherlands), Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) and Blanka Vas (Hungary) in the final 3km, the Alaskan native, who only secured a spot on the start line after the United States’ Taylor Knibb pulled out to focus on the triathlon, powered to the win in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
If that wasn’t enough, Faulkner doubled up on gold medals with women’s team pursuit success against New Zealand on the velodrome too.
Remco Evenepoel does the double despite drama
Zac Williams/ZW Photography
Another rider to secure double gold was Belgium’s superstar Remco Evenepoel. A week after time-trialling his way to victory on treacherous wet roads ahead of Filippo Ganna (Italy) and fellow countryman Wout van Aert, he was back in action for the men’s road race. He lived up to the hype and then some.
After bridging across to the leading group he immediately began to drop riders, with Valentin Madouas of France the last man standing. Evenepoel surged away on the penultimate climb and embarked on a 15km solo ride to the finish line. However, it wasn’t without some late dramatics.
In the last kilometres with the gold medal practically already around his neck, a puncture left Evenepoel screaming for a new bike. No race radios meant he had no idea of Madouas’s position on the road. The camera motorbike couldn’t help him either. Eventually he was relayed the information that Madouas was a minute down and Evenepoel could provide the public with a touch of dramatic flair at the finish line.
Track cycling
Harrie Lavreysen is the fastest man on two wheels
@UCI_Track
Dutch sprinter Harrie Lavreysen successfully defended his sprint and team sprint gold medals from Tokyo at the Paris Olympics, even going one better and adding the keirin to his palmarès. The 27-year-old headed into these Games as one to watch, bolstered by his multiple World and European Championships titles in both the sprint and team sprint.
In qualifying for the sprint, he set a new world record of 9.088secs, and in the final won the first two races against Australia’s Matthew Richardson for the gold medal. The Netherlands team set a new Olympic record in qualifying, their three riders of Lavreysen, Roy van den Berg and Deffrey Hoogland hitting a time of 41.279secs over the three laps. They pushed this even further in the gold medal matchup against Great Britain’s Jack Carlin, Ed Lowe and Hamish Turnbull, setting a new world record of 40.949secs.
It was a messy finale for the men’s keirin. A crash in the final corner took down Carlin (Great Britain) and Shinji Nakano (Japan), with Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom (Malaysia) being relegated. Lavreysen was already ahead, his gold medal never in danger, with the Aussie duo of Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer finishing on the podium.
Lavreysen was able to dispatch his rivals with ease throughout multiple disciplines in the Olympics. He now has five gold medals and one bronze. Great Britain’s Jason Kenny holds the record for most Olympic golds (seven) and Olympic medals (nine) for a cyclist. It’s hard to sustain such dominance over multiple Olympic cycles, but Lavreysen will only be 31 years of age at the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. He could well be on his way to rivalling Kenny.
Team sprint gold for Great Britain
@UCI_Track
Great Britain’s Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane won gold against New Zealand in the women’s team sprint final, setting a new world record of 45.186sec in the process. It was the third WR they had set throughout the event, previously hitting 45.472sec in qualifying and 43.338sec in the first round against Canada.
It was Great Britain’s only gold medal on the track. The host nation of France topped cycling’s overall medal table with three golds, three silvers and three bronze medals. Netherlands finished second and Australia third. It’s the first time since the 2004 Athens Olympics that Great Britain has not been at the top of the rankings. However they did take home the most medals, with 11 in total (two gold, five silver, four bronze).
Italian joy in the Madison
@UCI_Track
In the beautiful chaos of the madison track race, Italy’s Vittoria Guazzini and Chiara Consonni hang-slung their way through 120 laps and managed to lap the field, gaining the 20 points that would ultimately secure gold with 37 points in total.
The Netherlands also lapped the field and finished on 28 points, but Great Britain’s duo of Elinor Barker and Neah Evans won the final sprint with double points on offer to leapfrog them to silver. Guazzini and Consonni burst into tears as the realisation of gold hit them.
Portugal’s first track cycling gold medal
@UCI_Track
The 200-lap men’s madison race saw multiple crashes on the banks of the Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, but from out of this maelstrom Portugal’s Rui Oliveira and Iúri Leitão managed to win all four of the last sprints on offer to surpass Italy’s duo of Elia Viviani and Simone Consonni, who had been leading for the majority of the race.
‘I’ve never won a single race in my life,’ Oliveira said. ‘There have been so many disappointments through the years. If someone had said you’d win your first race at the Olympics in Paris, I’d say “You’re kidding me.” We’re not even close to being the favourites but we ride our hearts out.’
Mountain biking
Tom Pidcock, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot prevail
Alex Broadway/Getty Images
In one of the best races of the Olympic Games, a dramatic showdown commenced on the final lap of the men’s XC MTB race. After an early puncture forced him out of the leading duo, Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock worked his way back through to pack over the next half an hour of racing to join Frenchman Victor Koretsky and South Africa’s Alan Hatherly at the head of the race.
Koretsky and Pidcock would trade blows, each attacking and swapping places with a gold medal up for grabs. It was on the final part of the course where the trees split the racing lines that would prove the decisive moment. Pidcock went left and just came out in front of Koretsky, who went right, and the duo came together. Pidcock pulled away as Koretsky’s momentum was disrupted. The Brit arrived at the finish line to a chorus of boos from the French crowd, but he successfully defended his Olympic title.
UCI MTB
In the women’s race, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot cemented her status as one of the best riders to ever grace the sport. Ferrand-Prévot has won almost everything, including World Championships across road, cyclocross, mountain bike and gravel, but the Olympic title in XC MTB is one that has eluded her.
After distancing her rivals on just the second lap, she quickly built a lead impossible to pull back and won the gold medal by almost three minutes in front of a celebrating home crowd. She was embraced by silver medallist Haley Batten of the United States and bronze medal winner Jenny Rissveds of Sweden before standing on the top step of the podium.
It was her final MTB Olympic race as she will switch back to road racing in 2025, with her eyes on the Tour de France Femmes.
BMX Racing
An all-French podium
Jeux Olympiques
It was a dream scenario for France in the men’s finale of BMX Racing. Joris Daudet, Sylvain Andre and Romain Mahieu came home for gold, silver and bronze that marked a home nation’s first podium sweep at the Summer Olympics in a century.
Winner Daudet boasts 12 World Championship medals but had never been able to score a medal in the last three Olympics. Andre finished off the podium in fourth at Tokyo. Then their home Games came around.
After a historic 1-2-3, they were impossible to tear from the track on the outskirts of Paris in front of a roaring home crowd. When the delayed women’s race could eventually get underway, Australia’s Saya Sakakibara won gold. Her partner Mahieu, who had just won bronze, was waiting for her after the finish line.
Great Britain’s Beth Shriever couldn’t replicate her success from Tokyo, finishing last in the final, but gave one of the most heartfelt interviews after her 8th place. She said, ‘I’ve loved every single second being here. Sometimes it can’t always go to plan, but that’s just life. I gave my all into this. I’m happy, I’m healthy, I’ve got my friends and family here and that’s what matters.
‘I’ve never experienced anything like [the French 1-2-3]. Insane. I’ve had a great time and it is what it is… it’s all good. I’m happy.’
Source link : https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/best-cycling-moments-2024-paris-olympics
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Publish date : 2024-08-13 00:05:33
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