Remco Evenepoel survives late drama to become first man to ever do Olympic road cycling double with road race win

A late puncture with four kilometres remaining inside the courtyard of the world-famous Louvre Museum was not enough to derail Remco Evenepoel and his pursuit of history at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Evenepoel capped a fine performance by his Belgian team to win an absorbing men’s road race on the Pont d’Iena underneath the Eiffel Tower. As he crossed the line, the 25-year-old stopped and raised his bike in the air for an image that could grace the walls of the museum where his dreams were almost shattered.

In the event, a late bike change made little difference, with Evenepoel having dropped France’s Valentin Madouas with his decisive attack 15 kilometres from the finish. Madouas held on to take the silver medal ahead of team-mate Christophe Laporte, who took bronze from the chase group.

Evenepoel became the first male rider in history to win the cycling road race and time trial at a single Olympic Games – and emulates the Dutch cyclist Leontien Zijlaard who won the women’s road race and time trial for the Netherlands at the Sydney Games in 2000.

"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," said Evenepoel to Discovery Plus' Adam Blythe at the finish.

"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.”

Departing from the Trocadero, the 90-strong peloton made their way along a spectator-lined Left Bank before reaching the end of the neutral zone on their way out of central Paris.

Eric Manizabayo - the only Rwandan in the race - was initially a solo breakaway as the course entered a 200 kilometre loop that would ferry the peloton on an undulating spin through the southwestern suburbs of the French capital. One became three with Thanakhan Chaiyasombat (Thailand) and Christophe Rougier-Lagane (Mauritius) joining the fun, while Arhraf Ed Doghmy (Morocco) and Charles Kagimu (Uganda) turned three into five 10 kilometres down the road.

The quintuplet set the early pace, working together and managing to grow a 15-minute gap on the main peloton - the favourites happy to keep them on a long leash with no serious threats in the breakaway.

But when a second group of four featuring Italian sprinter Elia Vivianni and Ireland’s Ryan Mullen edged their advantage to 9’30” with 187 kilometres remaining, there was a shift amongst the radio-less riders in the main peloton.

The Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium teams started working on the front and laying down the power in an attempt to reel in the breakaways and keep their riders Mathieu van der Poel, Wout Van Aert, Remco Evenepoel and Mads Pedersen in contention.

By 122 kilometres to go, the Viviani group had managed to absorb the first five-man breakaway. Manizabayo was the first to struggle with the pace and drop off the back, while Ed Doghmy and Chaiyasombat weren’t far behind. 

Entering a 40 kilometre section that featured six climbs, the breakaway had a three-minute lead on the main peloton. Although no ascents were steeper than 6.5% percent, the repetition of short, sharp peaks would be consistently difficult.

A section that had been earmarked to be a potential flashpoint in the race, things would take a bit longer to become animated in what was the longest ever Olympic road race.

It was Ireland's Ben Healy who would be the protagonist, joining team-mate Ryan Mullen up the road before finding himself all alone as the race reached the Parisian circuit.

At 58 kilometres to go, a group of seven including Fred Wright, Valetin Madouas and Nils Pollitt would break and stay away, and it looked like the lack of control in the main peloton would see another outsider win Olympic gold.

But Evenepoel had other ideas. After team-mate Wout Van Aert marked world champion Mathieu van der Poel's first explosive turn on the cobbled climb of Montmartre, the individual time trial gold medallist dug deep to put in a big move of his own.

With everyone else in the red, no one could follow, and the Belgian was soon on the wheel of the leading breakaway.

Evenepoel soon whittled down the group to just himself and Frenchman Madouas and with 15 kilometres left, he kicked again, leaving the home favourite for dust in what looked like a simple solo to the line.

But with four kilometres left, the Belgian started furiously signalling he had a mechanical issue with his bike - a front puncture forcing him to stop and wait for his team car and a spare.

The Belgian was soon up and running again, but had a flat tyre cost him his shot at Olympic history?

The issue ended up as more of a blip than a catastrophe, the 2022 world champion soon regaining more than a minute’s advantage on the chasing pack.

Coming into view of the finish line, he had enough of a lead to come to a halt and hold his hands above his head in celebration with just the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop.

A visibility emotional Madouas managed to hold off the chasing to take silver, while Christophe Laporte made it a French 2-3 by taking bronze.

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