Paris 2024 Olympics: favorites to win the Olympic gold in road cycling

The special event that the Paris 2024 Olympic Games represent is approaching, an event that, due to its unique characteristic of taking place every 4 years, serves to crown and place in the Olympus of each discipline the athletes of each specialty that compete. Despite being an event to which, in road cycling, traditionally has not been given the importance it deserved, in recent decades it has been gaining prestige and has become part of that list of highly coveted victories, especially for the classics lovers. Medals that will be contested on August 3, 2024.

The best cyclists in the world seek Olympic glory in Paris 2024

Although the road cycling events in the Olympic program have historically been in the background compared to the rest of the calendar events, for several editions now it has been a race that professionals pay special attention to, as it is a title that brings glory to the winner for the following 4 years.

Historically, the Olympic event had been reserved for amateur cyclists and, in fact, it was the launching pad for some who would later become big names in the professional world. However, it was from Atlanta 96 when the event was opened to professionals, with the memorable victory in the time trial by Miguel Indurain. From then on, we will always find cycling references at the top of the podium: Ulrich, Bettini, Samuel Sánchez, Vinokourov, Van Avermaet and the most recent Richard Carapaz who have known how to take advantage of this victory, proudly wearing the golden color that identifies them as Olympic champions.

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Now, we are just a few days away from knowing who will succeed the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz at the top of the sport in a race that presents a route and a participation with a completely uncertain outcome, added to the fact that the teams of the different countries have only 4 or 5 participants at best, making it impossible to control the race and setting up a fierce battle for those who want to reach the gold.

Who will succeed Richard Carapaz in Paris 2024?

The list of favorites for the road race at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is extensive and, as we said, with a presumably uncontrolled race that could give opportunities to some second-tier cyclists. In any case, the current Tokyo champion, Richard Carapaz, will not be able to defend his title as disagreements with his federation have led to the call-up of Jonathan Narváez in his place.

However, we must be realistic and several names are on everyone's list and, surely, they will be the ones we see fighting for victory, especially on such a selective route as Paris 2024.

And the first on that list can only be the current World Champion Mathieu van der Poel who, after giving us another spectacular spring, has replicated during the 2024 Tour de France the same approach that last year led him to victory in Glasgow. He will be accompanied by his compatriots Daan Hoole and Dylan van Baarle.

With the doubt of how he will assimilate the effort of the 2024 Tour de France, we must also consider the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, although, as happened last year in Glasgow, the twisty final part of the Parisian circuit may work against him as it represents an excessive energy expenditure for him compared to more technical cyclists. In any case, Belgium has the wildcard of Wout van Aert who, like Van der Poel, has carefully prepared for the Olympic event and, despite not shining for some time, he must always be taken into account in these types of races.

After these giants, we would move on to a second tier where the Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe stands out, more for his history than for his effective performance in recent seasons. Another cyclist who has also prepared for this event and who will surely show us glimpses of his brilliance.

Also in this second tier, we must mention the Spanish team that lines up for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with Oier Lazkano, Alex Aranburu, and Juan Ayuso. The first two have already shown that they can compete with the best in these types of races, while Ayuso, a force of nature, comes to this race with doubts hanging over him due to his poor performance in the Tour de France just days before opting to withdraw when his positive for covid was confirmed and he abandoned the French tour.

After the news of the non-participation of Tadej Pogacar in Paris 2024, his place in the Slovenian team has been taken by Domen Novak who will be accompanied by a top-level team capable of causing a stir in a race like this with cyclists like Matej Mohoric, Jan Tratnik, or Luca Mezgec.

And to finish this second block of favorites, we cannot fail to mention a Tom Pidcock who will lead the British team just a few days after facing his main goal of the last 4 years: to retain his Olympic medal in mountain biking. A gold medal that, given the superiority he has shown in the World Cup races, is practically assured unless he has a bad day, a fall, or a mechanical problem. The reason for being in this second tier is that, for him, this road cycling race is an extra, although, who knows, if the INEOS Grenadiers cyclist could achieve the double.

Route of the road race at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

As we could already see when the route was presented a year ago, the road race at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is likely to be extremely selective. First, due to the great distance planned, 273 kilometers, plus a route broken by the surroundings of Paris where no less than 10 climbs are ascended before reaching the final circuit where the cyclists will face 3 ascents to the Montmartre hill through the intricate streets of this beautiful neighborhood of Paris.

The last ascent to Montmartre is crowned just 10 kilometers from the finish, so surely this will be the decisive place where the medals will be decided.

How to watch the road race at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Eurosport channel and the Max platform, which will integrate said channel from now on, have full broadcasting rights for all the events of the Paris 2024 program. However, the broadcast channel and schedule have not yet been announced, although we must assume that the race will be broadcast in its entirety, that is, on Saturday, August 3, between approximately 11:00 and 18:15.