Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel claimed gold in the men’s road race in dramatic fashion at the Olympics on Saturday to become the first male rider to achieve the double after also winning the time trial.
Evenepoel suffered a mechanical less than four kilometres from the finish, on the Carousel du Louvre, raising his arm for assistance before clapping and waving at his team to deliver a new bike in a scene of sheer panic.
The change was made swiftly, however, and he powered to the line after he had made the decisive move 15km from the finish, in the run-in to the second of three punishing ascents of the Butte Montmartre.
His brutal attack left Valentin Madouas, who was hovering 1:15 behind when Evenepoel’s incident occurred, gasping for air but the Frenchman hung on to take silver after 273km, with France also taking bronze through Christophe Laporte.
Evenepoel raised his arm again in the final kilometre but this time it was a pre-celebration before stepping off his bike as he crossed the line for a photo with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
Ireland’s Ben Healy finished 10th after a brilliant ride that saw him spend all of the last 90km in breakaways trying to force the pace. Evenepoel led a group of riders to close down the gap on Healy as the race entered Paris.
Healy stayed in medal contention but had nothing left for the final sprint for bronze, coming home 10th overall after a brave display. Ryan Mullen finished in 60th position.
