With the Tour de France finished it’s full speed ahead for the Olympic Games in Paris, the world’s best cyclists (minus Tadej Pogačar) ready to battle it out on the road, dirt and track (plus whatever you call the BMX events’ surfaces) for the most prestigious of prestigious sporting prizes… but, we hear the less organised among you ask: when are all the cycling races at the Olympics, and where can I find all the dates and times in one handy article? Scroll on, we have you covered with our one-stop guide to what’s on when.
The next fortnight will be full of drama, storylines, upsets, tears, comebacks and more, the cycling events facing a tough ask to better 2021 when Tokyo delivered the goods. From Anna Kiesenhofer’s underdog story to end all underdog stories in the women’s road race, through to the Kennys Laura and Jason doing what they do best, via Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte’s historic BMX medals, Primož Roglič’s rise from Tour de France despair to Olympic gold, a monumental popcorn-grabbing track bust-up between the Brits and Danes, world records and so much more.
You won’t want to miss any of what Paris has in store for us, so consult our schedule guide and plan your life around the best cycling action the Olympics has to offer. We’ll also add that we’re sticking to dates and times only here as it will take a lot of scrolling to list everywhere in the world you can watch; but here in the UK, you can catch all the action via the BBC and BBC iPlayer.
*All times are British Summer Time (BST). For Central European Summer Time (CEST) + 1 hour; for Eastern Standard Time (EST) – 5 hours; for Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) + 9 hours
Road races and time trials
Saturday 27 July, 13.30: women’s individual time trial; 15.30, men’s individual time trial
Day one of the cycling action and we’re off to a belter — women’s and men’s TT action with a viewer-friendly route starting and finishing at the famous Pont Alexandre III, past Notre-Dame twice, and sure to provide the TV director a feast of helicopter shots all afternoon. It’s a flat route, with last year’s World Championships podium: Remco Evenepoel, Filippo Ganna, and Brit Josh Tarling (plus Wout van Aert) the big favourites for the men’s race. Before that will be the women’s event, Chloé Dygert the favourite, with Ellen van Dijk on the comeback trail from injury and Grace Brown hoping to spring a surprise.
* These races have now been and gone, with Remco Evenepoel and Grace Brown winning golds. Read our report here
Saturday 3 August, 10.00: men’s road race
No Richard Carapaz or Tadej Pogačar for this one, the defending champion missing out on Ecuador’s single place in the race, while the newly crowned Tour de France champion is off on holiday, in part in protest due to his partner and Slovenia’s number one female cyclist Urška Žigart not being selected.
It’s a lumpy course reminiscent of the Flemish classics. They’ve even found some cobbles to chuck in. World champion Mathieu van der Poel will of course be the favourite, the Dutchman ‘fresh’ off his Tour de France training camp, hoping to peak perfectly for this. Van Aert, Mads Pedersen, Evenepoel, Biniam Girmay and home favourites Julian Alaphilippe and Christophe Laporte will do their best to stop him.
Sunday 4 August, 13.00: women’s road race
The following day it’s the turn of the women who’ll tackle a similar, albeit 100km shorter, route centred around a triple ascent of the cobbled Cote de la Butte Montmatre. Lotte Kopecky, Marianne Vos, Lorena Wiebes, Demi Vollering, Elisa Longo Borghini, Elisa Balsamo, Katarzyna Niewiadoma, Pfeiffer Georgi, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, Lizzie Deignan and, of course, Kiesenhofer on the startlist for this one. Need we say any more?
Track cycling
From Monday 5 August through to lunchtime on Sunday 11 you can fill your boots with velodrome action, numerous qualifiers, rounds, repechages, Omnium events and more filling the day. You get the picture, there’s a lot to cover, and you’ll almost certainly be able to BBC red button (or Eurosport/Discovery+ equivalent) your way to watching what you want throughout the week.
Some dates and times you might want to keep an eye out for:
Monday 5 August: 16.25, men’s team pursuit qualifying; 18.45, women’s team sprint finals
Tuesday 6 August: 16.30, women’s team pursuit qualifying; 18.15, men’s team pursuit first round; 18.55, men’s team sprint finals
Wednesday 7 August: 12.50, women’s team pursuit first round; 17.00, men’s team pursuit finals; 18.00, women’s team pursuit finals
Thursday 8 August: 18.00, women’s Keirin finals; 18.30, men’s Omnium final event (points race)
Friday 9 August: 17.00, men’s sprint finals; 17.10, women’s Madison final
Saturday 10 August: 17.00, men’s Madison final
Sunday 11 August: 11.45, women’s sprint finals; 12.20, men’s Keirin finals; 12.55, women’s Omnium final event (points race)
The full Olympic track cycling schedule can be viewed here.
Mountain Biking
Sunday 28 July, 13.10: women’s cross-country
Monday 29 July, 13.10: men’s cross-country
Tom Pidcock will be defending his cross-country crown on Monday 29 July, an event to make your quads burn (even from the sofa) and your jaw drop at the technical skills on show. Our pals over at off-road.cc will have all the best coverage for this.
BMX
Tuesday 30 July: 12.25, women’s freestyle qualification; 14.10, men’s freestyle qualification
Wednesday 31 July: 12.10, women’s freestyle final; 13.45, men’s freestyle final
Thursday 1 August: 19.00, racing men’s quarter-finals; 19.20, racing women’s quarter-finals; 21.05, racing men’s last chance; 21.15, racing women’s last chance
Friday 2 August: 19.00, racing men’s semi-finals; 19.15, racing women’s semi-finals; 20.35, racing men’s final; 20.50, racing women’s final
Talking of jaw-dropping things people can do on bikes, the BMX is split into two events — the freestyle and racing. The racing is one of the most exciting Olympic events going. Years of preparation decided in the blink of an eye as they flash around in seconds.
Expect your heart rate to be through the roof, even watching on at home. For the freestyle you can play the fun game of ‘how many bones would I break trying to do what they just did’…
Triathlon
Ok, so the first bit is in a river (assuming the water quality improves*) and the last bit on foot, but there’s another 112km of fast and furious cycling action to be witnessed in between the swimming and running if you fancy watching the individual and mixed relay triathlons.
The individual Olympic triathlon has been contested since Sydney 2000, and as always will feature a 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run. In the men’s race, rearranged to Wednesday 31 July, all three medallists from Tokyo will be appearing, however Alex Yee (GBR) and Hayden Wilde (NZL), silver and bronze in Tokyo respectively, are tipped to outrun Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) this time around. In the women’s, also on Wednesday 31 July, GB’s Beth Potter has been in fine form this year and will be out for a medal, as will fellow Brit Georgia Taylor-Brown, while Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) is the great French hope. Flora Duffy (BER) is defending her title but has suffered with injuries since her Tokyo triumph.
The triathlon mixed relay race, only introduced at Tokyo 2020, sees two men and two women each completing a 300m swim, 8km cycle and 2km run, and it’s the French who are hot favourites to dethrone the British defending champions. Germany, USA and Australia are also expected to be in the mixed relay medal mix.
Wednesday 31 July, 09:45: men’s individual triathlon (*postponed from original 30 July, 07:00 start time due to water quality concerns)
Wednesday 31 July, 07:00: women’s individual triathlon
Monday 5 August, 07:00: triathlon mixed relay
So there you go. Save it to your bookmarks, make note of your ‘must not miss’ appointments and plan out your viewing experience for the next fortnight. Oh, and remember to factor in some time to actually ride your bike too…
14 thoughts on “Cycling at the 2024 Paris Olympics: All the crucial dates and times for watching the cycling action during the Games”
Thanks, more of this on road
Thanks, more of this on road cc please – races coming this week and where to watch them for the road, mtb and cyclocross
check12 wrote:
There is no cyclocross in the Olympics. Road’s pretty simple, TT for both men and women today, men’s road race next Saturday followed by women’s on the Sunday. Only two MTB events, women’s XCO tomorrow and men’s Monday.
Sorry in general, tour of xxx
Sorry in general, tour of xxx, 1 day races, etc not the Olympics which is all covered here
Ah right, I thought you meant
Ah right, I thought you meant you wanted day by day what’s on at the Olympics today notifications!
I’m not that lazy ???
I’m not that lazy ???
Cyclocross is coming in the
Cyclocross is coming in the 2030 Winter Olympics.
IanGlasgow wrote:
That’s not 100% certain yet, is it? I thought they were still working around the stipulation in the Olympic charter that any sport in the Winter Olympics must take place on the snow or ice? It would be great if it were included and maybe downhill mountain biking on snow, which looks amazing.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Fairly sure that’s why the UCI Cyclocross World Cup has included at least 1 round up in the alps – Val di Sole – with plenty of snow for the last 3 seasons.
Would be great to have CX at
Would be great to have CX at the winter olympics, though I get the organisation’s hesitation. Similar situation with cross country running, which in Europe is a typical winter period sport, and has a cold weather/winter ‘vibe’, but in other parts of the world it has a whole other vibe.
Downhill mountain biking on snow is a whole other thing. It is a made up sport, that has hardly any participents, no race calendar, and frankly, no interest. I have not seen one single mountain biker, team, organisation or website who is enthousiastic about it. Sorry to say, but you are the only one who seems to think it looks amazing. The general consensus is that it looks clumsy and boring. I really hope they stop that nonsense instead of forcing it on the mountain bikers.
I’ll be watching the BMX
I’ll be watching the BMX racing. I know Kye Whyte a bit as I’m mates with his dad and know his mum and elder brothers too. I’ve met Beth Shriever in the past but wouldn’t say I know her very well. Bear in mind too that a British rider is competing for Morocco in BMX also (brought up in South London but has a Moroccan dad), Dean Reeves. I know Dean the best.
For anyone who hasn’t raced BMX, it’s called a BMX track.
I’m really hoping Kye (the prince of Peckham) can come home with gold this time and that Beth can retain her gold. When he scooped her up at the end of her race in Tokyo, that was my favourite moment of the last Olympics. They’re good mates as they’ve basically grown up together, competing in the UK first as little kids and then overseas too as they got older.
Good luck to all from the
Good luck to all from the Peckham stable, as a local myself I’ll be cheering them on!
It’s only 1/3 cycling but the
It’s only 1/3 cycling but the triathlon schedule is:
30th July 07:00 Men’s
31st July 07:00 Women’s
5th August 07:00 Mixed Relay
Tom_77 wrote:
Delayed a cause de toute la merde dans La Seine.
(Apols for my awful French.)
C’est pas vrai – c’est au
C’est pas vrai – c’est au cause des requins.