This weekend brings the men’s and women’s road races at the Olympic Games in Paris, with the men completing a 272.1km road race on Saturday and the women completing a 157.6km road race on Sunday. With a challenging “Classics-style” course, smaller fields, and no race radios, both events are expected to produce exciting, aggressive racing, and we won’t be surprised if a dark horse emerges to win the gold medal.
- Date: Saturday, August 3 (Men); Sunday, August 4 (Women)
- Distance: 272.1km (Men); 157.6km (Women)
- Start location: Paris
- Finish location: Paris
The road race was one of the events included in the first “modern” Olympics, which took place in Athens in 1896. The 87km event was only organized for men at the time, and it was won by a home rider—Greece’s Aristidis Konstantinidis—who took the gold medal ahead of Germany’s August Goedrich and Great Britain’s Edward Battel.
The event was excluded from the next three editions, but returned to the Olympics from 1912 to 1932 as an incredibly long individual time trial—in 1928 for example, the riders completed a 168km course around Amsterdam. The event went back to being a true road race at the Berlin games in 1936 and has remained that way ever since.
A women’s event was finally added at the Los Angeles games in 1984. Americans finished first and second in the inaugural road race, with Connie Carpenter winning the gold medal and Rebecca Twigg winning the silver. West Germany’s Sandra Schumacher won the bronze medal.
At the 1996 games in Atlanta, professional riders were allowed to compete for the first time, and now the UCI works with the Olympic organizers to make sure that the road races in each Olympic games have a spot on the calendar that ensures the best riders in the sport are able to participate if they want to.
Here’s everything else you need to know about this weekend’s men’s and women’s road races at the Olympic Games:
Olympic Road Race Route
Saturday’s 272.1km men’s race starts in downtown Paris—in the Trocadéro, an area just across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower—before taking the riders on a 225km loop through the hilly region to the southwest of the City of Light. The riders will tackle ten short, punchy climbs on this portion of the course, climbs that should make the event resemble the one-day “Classics” held in Belgium each spring.
The first three of these ten climbs come relatively early in the race, but the next seven are clustered together starting about 138km into the day, which is when we can expect teams with medal favorites to start positioning themselves at the front of the peloton so as to be on the leading end of any selections these climbs might cause.
With a total of thirteen “named” climbs over the course of the day, the riders will cover 2,800m of elevation gain, about double what they cover during the Tour of Flanders each spring but a little less than half of what they cover during Liège-Bastogne-Liège. So by the time the riders re-enter Paris, expect the already tiny peloton (team sizes are incredibly limited at the Olympic games) to be even smaller thanks to riders getting dropped from the back of the bunch throughout the early afternoon.
The finale begins with the first of the three ascents of the Côte de la Butte Montmartre, a short partially-cobbled climb through one of Paris’ most famous neighborhoods that should serve as the strategic focal point of the two 18.3km downtown circuits that the riders will complete before racing to the finish line back in Trocadero.
The riders will climb—and descend—the Côte de la Butte Montmartre for the last time with about 9.4km to go, making it the perfect launchpad for anyone hoping to attack their way to a gold medal.
Sunday’s 157.6km women’s event starts and ends in the same place as the men’s race, with an identical finale that includes three trips over the Côte de la Butte Montmartre and two laps of the 18.3km city circuit.
Early in their race, the women will cover a smaller loop through the suburbs west of Paris, tackling six of the ten climbs covered by the men on their trip outside the city. In all, the women’s race includes nine “named” climbs for 1,700m of elevation gain, with the last of them—the third and final ascent of the Côte de la Butte Montmartre—coming just 9.4km from the finish line at the Trocadéro.
But we won’t be surprised if the winning move in both races goes up the road before the final climb as aggressive tactics often pay off in the Olympic road races for two reasons. First of all, the Olympic road races feature two of the smallest pelotons of the season, as team sizes range from just one to four riders depending on each nation’s UCI ranking. That means there are fewer “big teams” to control the race, and with several of the pre-race favorites racing either alone or with just one or two teammates, they might be forced to take matters into their own hands sooner than they would if they had five or six riders supporting them.
But perhaps more importantly, the Olympic road races are run without the use of race radios, which means riders don’t have up-to-the-second information about what’s happening and who’s up the road, so they have to race according to their own observations—and in some cases, just rely on their gut. For fans, this often lends a slight sense of chaos to the proceedings, making the event more like a local junior race (in all the right ways) in which riders just try and attack their way to victory with little care for what’s going on behind them, and less like a more choreographed grand tour stage in which team directors sometimes play as much of a role as the riders.
Luckily, the riders aren’t expected to have rain to deal with, with mostly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low-80s forecast throughout the weekend. As we saw during last weekend’s individual time trials, the roads in downtown Paris are brutal when they’re wet, and with several tight, technical stretches on the city circuits at the end of both races, dry roads will be a welcome sight to the pelotons.
How to Watch the Men’s and Women’s Olympic Road Races
You can stream on Men’s and Women’s Olympic Road Races on NBC’s Peacock ($5.99/month or $59.99/year). If you’re looking for ad-free coverage, you’ll need a subscription to Peacock Premium Plus, which runs $11.99 per month or $119.99 for the year. And if you have a good cable package and streaming’s not your thing, you’re in luck: NBC will offer both races to cable subscribers on CNBC.
If you’re an early riser, NBC’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s race begins at 5:00 a.m. EDT. But if that’s too early for you, make sure you’re watching by about 10:15 a.m. EDT, as the riders head back into downtown Paris and approach their first ascent of the Côte de la Butte Montmartre—where most of the action could go down. The race is expected to end around 11:45 a.m EDT.
NBC’s coverage of Sunday’s women’s race begins at 8:00 a.m. EDT, with the riders expected to begin the downtown finale—with those three ascents of the Côte de la Butte Montmartre—at about 10:45 a.m. EDT. The race is expected to finish sometime between noon and 12:30 p.m. EDT.
What Happened Last Olympics
The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games were held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the men’s road race, Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz won the gold medal. The former Giro d’Italia champion covered an attack from American Brandon McNulty with about 25km to go and then attacked the American on a small climb about 6km from the finish line to take the biggest one-day race victory of his career. Belgium’s Wout van Aert–who led the chase behind the two escapees–outsprinted Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar to take the silver medal.
Unfortunately, despite winning a stage, wearing the yellow jersey for a day, and winning the King of the Mountains competition at the recent Tour de France, Carapaz won’t be back to defend his title as he wasn’t selected by his national federation given the profile of this year’s course.
The women’s race in Tokyo had an even more surprising outcome with Austria’s Anna Kiesenhofer winning the gold medal after spending all day on the attack. The Austrian was a member of a 5-rider breakaway that escaped at the start of the day, then dropped her fellow escapees with about 41km remaining in the race to forge ahead on her own.
Behind her, the powerful Dutch team thought they had caught all the remaining escapees, so when Annemiek van Vleuten outsprinted Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini on the Fuji Speedway, she raised her arms in victory. But van Vleuten’s joy soon turned to embarrassment, as she learned that Kiesenhofer stayed away to win the gold medal. Had the teams been allowed to use race radios, that might not have happened.
Riders to Watch - Women
Lotte Kopecky (Belgium)
In the women’s race, Kopecky is the top favorite. Like van der Poel on the men’s side, the Belgian is arguably the most accomplished one-day rider in the women’s peloton, with recent wins at the Tour of Flanders (2022 and 2023), this year’s Paris-Roubaix, and last year’s world road race championship. Fourth in the Olympic road race in 2021, she recently finished second at the Giro d’Italia, a sign that she’s right where she needs to be to win gold on Sunday. Her team isn’t the strongest, but that shouldn’t matter much: she overcame a similar situation to win worlds last year in Glasgow and possesses the perfect mix of skills to excel on course like Sunday’s.
Lorena Wiebes (the Netherlands)
As usual, the Dutch come into the race with the deepest and most talented team, with all four riders capable of winning the gold medal in a variety of ways. They’re most likely riding for, Lorena Wiebes, who recently won five of six stages at the Baloise Ladies Tour. Known as more of a sprinter, look for other teams to try and drop Wiebes late in the race, but that could play right into the team’s hands as it leaves the door open for riders like Demi Vollering and Marianne Vos to cover attacks and then try and win the race for themselves. After 2021’s embarrassing performance, the Dutch squad will be extra-motivated to not let the gold medal slip away again.
Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy)
The bronze medalist in 2021, Longo Borghini leads a talented 4-woman Italian squad that can easily go blow-for-blow with the Dutch superteam. Winner of the recent Giro d’Italia, Longo Borghini is her team’s clear captain, and she’ll likely spend much of the race glued to Kopecky and Vollering, hoping for a hard race that eliminates some of the sprinters in the finale. And if that doesn’t happen, the Italian team could shift its focus to Elisa Balsamo, a former world champion who’s one of the fastest sprinters in the race.
Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Poland)
Niewiadoma doesn’t have as many important victories on her resume as riders like Kopecky or Longo Borghini do, but she’s always “up there” and in contention for the victory. She’ll need to gamble a bit if she’s to overcome Kopecky, the Dutch, and the Italians on Sunday, but that’s never been a problem for the 29-year-old. A gracious rider who clearly loves riding her bike, she’ll likely be happy with any medal, but we’d love to see her take the gold.
Riders to Watch - Men
Mathieu van der Poel (the Netherlands)
Over the past two seasons, van der Poel has proven himself to be the best one-day rider in the men’s peloton, winning Milan-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders (for the third time), Paris-Roubaix (twice), and last year’s world road race championships (on a punchy course in Glasgow, Scotland.
After taking a break following a dominant run at this year’s spring Classics, the Dutchman rode a rather quiet Tour de France–but we think that’s just the calm before the storm. He leads one of only 4-man teams in the race, won’t care much about the lack of radios, and is the clear gold medal favorite.
Wout van Aert (Belgium)
Were it not for van der Poel, we might be saying that van Aert is the most accomplished one-day rider in men’s cycling. But the Belgian is more often the bridesmaid than the bride, as he’s often forced to settle for second-, third-, and fourth-places behind the sport’s other superstars.
It’s not always his fault: last spring he tested positive for COVID-19 right before the Tour of Flanders, and this spring he crashed in Dwars door Vlaanderen, breaking several bones and forcing him to miss the rest of the Classics and the Giro d’Italia. He showed that he’s back to his best at the recent Tour de France though and then won the bronze medal in the Olympic time trial. A gold medal Saturday would finally slay the demons that have been haunting him these past few seasons. He has the form and the team he needs to do it, but does he have the luck? We’ll see soon enough.
Biniam Girmay (Eritrea)
Girmay had a breakthrough Tour de France, taking three stage victories and the green jersey as the winner of the Tour’s Points competition. Now he’s set his sights on a very winnable (for him, at least) Olympic road race. Girmay is already an accomplished Classics rider–he won Ghent-Wevelgem in 2022–and is obviously one of the best sprinters in the business–the course in Paris is perfect for him.
For the 24-year-old it will all come down to how well he handles the distance. He’ll be a marked rider in the finale and other contenders will certainly try to drop him before the finish line. And he has no teammates, so he’ll need to ride a smart race, following wheels and letting other riders and teams force the major selections.
Then it will all come down to his ability to hang with the attacks from men like van der Poel and van Aert in the finale. He might choose to let a rider or two escape late in the race save himself to sprint for silver or bronze–either of which would still be a fantastic result for the Eritrean.
Remco Evenepoel (Belgium)
Evenepoel might be the most dangerous rider in the race. Third at the recent Tour de France and the gold medalist in last weekend’s Olympic time trial, the Belgian clearly has the form he needs to win Saturday’s road race.
His biggest advantage might be the fact that he races alongside van Aert, who despite Evenepoel’s arguably more impressive resume, still attracts most of the attention from the Belgian team’s rivals. If Evenepoel can exploit the fact that most of the competition will be marking van Aert–as they were at the world championships in 2022–the world class time trialist could ride away to win another gold medal.
Julian Alaphilippe (France)
French fans will be all-in on Julian Alaphilippe, a punchy rider who should excel on a course like Saturday’s. Once mentioned in the same breath as riders like van der Poel and van Aert, the Frenchman has suffered through a rough couple of seasons. But he seems to have finally found his legs again this year, winning stages at the Giro d’Italia and the recent Czech Tour. He leads a deep and talented 4-man French team, and will be buoyed by thousands of French fans alongside the road. If he pulls it off, Alaphilippe would be one of the most popular Olympic champions in history.
American Riders to Watch For
Matteo Jorgenson, Kristen Faulkner, and Chloe Dygert (United States)
The American contingent will be led in the men’s race by Jorgenson, who’s a dark horse contender after a strong Tour de France. Riding for himself as the leader of a 3-man US squad, he could pull off a big surprise if the pre-favorites spend too much time marking one another and ignore the young American.
In the women’s race, Faulkner and Dygert are teaming-up to try and overcome some of the bigger teams in the event. Faulkner, the reigning national road race champion, has five wins so far this season; and Dygert, who took the bronze medal in last weekend’s time trial, will be looking for an even better result in Sunday’s road race. If it all comes down to a sprint, she might have a chance.
