Remco Evenepoel survives last minute bike-change scare to make history by winning Paris Olympics 2024 cycling road race

Not even a late puncture and a desperate, panicked bike change could stop Remco Evenepoel from making history as the first man to win the time trial and road race at the same Olympic Games, as the rampant Belgian soloed to a dominant, imperious victory on the packed streets of Paris, dispatching the plucky home hero Valentin Madouas with 15km to go to win gold.

A notably smaller peloton with just 88 riders lined up in Paris for the longest men’s cycling road race at the Olympics kitted in their countries’ eclectic colours — a stark change from the parade of dark and dull colours usually seen in the UCI WorldTour races — to tackle the gruelling 273km-long route, with 13 climbs coming in thick and fast as an early breakaway of smaller nations built a lead of 12 minutes, before a more elite chasing group including Elia Viviani and Ryan Mullen bridged across.

But as was the case one year ago in Glasgow, the fireworks were expected to go off in the final sections of the race in Paris, as the peloton made its way around three laps of the 18.4km circuit that included a cobbled climb up to the Butte Montmartre, the hill in the French capital with its summit home to the spectacular Sacré-Cœur.

As expected, the race was decided in these closing urban laps, with Remco Evenepoel dropping Valentin Madouas, the home hero born in Brest, on a tough drag 15km before the finish, despite the Frenchman’s best efforts to stick with the Belgian who just a week ago had taken the gold medal in the time trial.

Remco Evenepoel seals the Olympic double with an incredible backdrop! #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/ibqKa0o5z0

— Eemeli (@LosBrolin) August 3, 2024

But taking a leaf out of French New Wave cinema, a late afternoon’s spin along the Seine for Evenepoel in the last 10 kilometres or so almost turned into one of the most painful sights imaginable, as the Belgian suffered a rear puncture less than 4km from the finish line.

However, thanks to over a minute’s lead that he had built up over Madouas, the Belgian team swiftly managed to get him a new bike, although not before a furiously exasperated Evenepoel was stranded in the middle of the road begging and screaming for a bike.

The late drama was the final dash of spice to the otherwise great race, which saw France’s Valentin Madouas, after riding bravely with Evenepoel for much of the second lap around Paris, come home to clinch second position, while his French teammate Christophe Laporte won the sprint amongst the chasing pack to grab the final place on the podium and bronze.

> “They didn’t boo the rock that made me puncture”: French crowds jeering epic Olympic mountain bike win a “shame” and “not really the spirit of the Olympics”, says Tom Pidcock – as beaten French rival graciously insists last-lap dive is “part of racing”

The peloton at the start line of men's cycling road race against the backdrop of Eiffel Tower (Ed Sykes/SWpix.com)

Great Britain's Tom Pidcock, just days after successfully defending his title as the Olympic champion in men's cross-country mountain bike race, came home in 13th place after some aggressive riding by fellow Brit Fred Wright, while pre-race favourite Mathieu van der Poel finished 12th after his decision to sit out the recon of the Paris street circuit owing to the "pointless" 30km/hr speed limit yesterday.

After over 200km of shadow boxing, the race burst into life with a Van der Poel attack on the first ascent of Montmartre, as the Dutchman with a single brushstroke akin to the revered painters whose paintings hang in the Musee de Louvre, flew out of the peloton in pursuit of the breakaway. And as we’ve seen so many times in the last few years, there was only one rider who was capable of challenging the world champion, his old nemesis from Belgium, Wout van Aert, who eventually finished 37th.

> “Pointless” 30kph speed limit on key climb sees pre-race favourite Mathieu van der Poel skip Olympic road race recon

Belgium's Remco Evenepoel and France's Valentin Madouas racing on the streets of Paris (Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

However with all the punches and counter-punches going on behind, Van der Poel's move (which he repeated to lesser effect the next time up) wasn’t enough to catch up to the ever-shifting leading group. With a sense of lull settling into the recovering peloton, Evenepoel, who had been pulling at the base of the Montmartre in the first lap, capitalised with a big dig on the flat.

As the race continued through the narrow, twisting and technical streets of Paris, he continued to ride with his head down, dropping riders who tried to stick with him one by one — almost as if he was riding another time trial.

And once Ben Healy, the super strong Irishman who had led the race for almost 60km,was caught by Evenepoel, and Madouas finally dropped, there was no looking back for the 24-year-old, who until this year hadn’t raced in France in his professional career, but now has two Olympic gold medals in the city along with a podium finish at the Tour de France last month.

With this win, Evenepoel joins Dutch rider Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel as the only other riders to become the Olympic champion in both road race and time trial in the same year, 24 years after she took gold in both women’s road cycling competitions in the Sydney Olympic Games.

Goosebumps 😳#Olympics #PARIS2024 pic.twitter.com/oWJFWxqsQT

— Eurosport (@eurosport) August 3, 2024

Speaking after the race against an iconic image of the Eiffel Tower, a jubiliant Evenepoel on cloud nine said: "I feel sick from the effort. It was a pretty hard day but to be the first person to do the double, it’s history.

"I knew the kicker where I dropped [Madouas] was perfect for me and from there on it was just pushing, pushing, pushing, to the line. Like I said, I really feel sick from the effort especially because of that stressy moment with about four kilometres to go, getting a puncture. I had to change bike and the car wasn’t ready but I had time enough. What a day.

"I started the year with this celebration at the line. I knew it would be a great picture with the background which is why I did this today."

Results powered by FirstCycling.com