Cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

The men's individual road race was a cycling event at the 2004 Summer Olympics. It was held on 14 August 2004. There were 144 competitors from 43 nations.[1] The maximum number of cyclists per nation had been set at five since professionals were allowed in 1996. The event was won by Paolo Bettini of Italy, the nation's first victory in the men's individual road race since 1992 and fifth overall (three more than any other nation). Sérgio Paulinho's silver was Portugal's first medal in the event. Belgium earned its first medal in the men's road race since 1964 with Axel Merckx's bronze.

Men's cycling road race
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Belarus stamp commemorating 2004 Olympic cycling
VenueAthens
Date14 August 2004
Competitors144 from 43 nations
Winning time5:41:44
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Paolo Bettini  Italy
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Sérgio Paulinho  Portugal
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Axel Merckx  Belgium
← 2000
2008 →

Summary

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In a race that showed numerous break away attempts, it wasn't until Paolo Bettini and Sérgio Paulinho broke away from the group with a couple of laps remaining and opened up a comfortable gap on the final lap that an idea of the medal positions could be gained. With the peloton giving up the chase of the leaders, Axel Merckx broke away to open up a sufficient gap for him to take bronze. Bettini out sprinted Paulinho for the gold, finishing in a time of 5 hours 41 minutes and 44 seconds. Among the other pre-race favourites, World Champion Igor Astarloa of Spain crashed on the opening lap, and 2000 Olympic road race champion Jan Ullrich finished among the peloton in 19th place. A number of other top names in the field, including Germany's Andreas Klöden and Russia's Viatcheslav Ekimov, pulled out before the end of the race, presumably with the Time Trial race, to be held four days later, in mind.

Background

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This was the 17th appearance of the event, previously held in 1896 and then at every Summer Olympics since 1936. It replaced the individual time trial event that had been held from 1912 to 1932; the time trial had been re-introduced in 1996 alongside the road race. Of the top 10 cyclists from 2000, all three medalists plus three more cyclists returned: gold medalist Jan Ullrich of Germany, silver medalist Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan, bronze medalist Andreas Klöden of Germany, sixth-place finisher Frank Høj of Denmark, eighth-place finisher George Hincapie of the United States, and ninth-place finisher Paolo Bettini of Italy. Lance Armstrong, having just won his sixth consecutive Tour de France, did not compete. Reigning world champion Igor Astarloa of Spain did compete.[1]

Serbia and Montenegro made its debut in the men's individual road race. Great Britain made its 17th appearance in the event, the only nation to have competed in each appearance to date.

Competition format and course

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The mass-start race was on a 211.2 kilometre course in Athens' Plateia Kozia. Using a city-streets course, "[r]ather than riding in the hilly country outside of Athens", resulted in a "relatively flat course" that did not challenge the professional peloton.[1]

Schedule

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All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 14 August 2004 12:45 Final

Results

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There were 75 finishers, with three (plus one non-finisher) later disqualified for doping.[2][1]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time
  Paolo Bettini   Italy 5h 41′ 44″
  Sérgio Paulinho   Portugal 5h 41′ 45″
  Axel Merckx   Belgium 5h 41′ 52″
4 Erik Zabel   Germany 5h 41′ 56″
5 Andrej Hauptman   Slovenia 5h 41′ 56″
6 Kim Kirchen   Luxembourg 5h 41′ 56″
7 Roger Hammond   Great Britain 5h 41′ 56″
8 Frank Høj   Denmark 5h 41′ 56″
9 Kurt Asle Arvesen   Norway 5h 41′ 56″
10 Alexandr Kolobnev   Russia 5h 41′ 56″
11 Robbie McEwen   Australia 5h 41′ 56″
12 Markus Zberg   Switzerland 5h 41′ 56″
13 Ciarán Power   Ireland 5h 41′ 56″
14 Marcus Ljungqvist   Sweden 5h 41′ 56″
15 Julian Dean   New Zealand 5h 41′ 56″
16 Fränk Schleck   Luxembourg 5h 41′ 56″
17 Max van Heeswijk   Netherlands 5h 41′ 56″
DPG[3] Tyler Hamilton   United States 5h 41′ 56″
19 Jan Ullrich   Germany 5h 41′ 56″
20 Thomas Voeckler   France 5h 41′ 56″
21 Serhiy Honchar   Ukraine 5h 41′ 56″
22 Georg Totschnig   Austria 5h 41′ 56″
23 Kyrylo Pospyeyev   Ukraine 5h 41′ 56″
DPG[1] George Hincapie   United States 5h 41′ 56″
25 Bo Hamburger   Denmark 5h 41′ 56″
26 Tadej Valjavec   Slovenia 5h 41′ 56″
27 Nuno Ribeiro   Portugal 5h 41′ 56″
28 Bobby Julich   United States 5h 41′ 56″
29 Martin Elmiger   Switzerland 5h 41′ 56″
30 Gerhard Trampusch   Austria 5h 41′ 56″
31 Santiago Botero   Colombia 5h 41′ 56″
DPG[1] Michael Barry   Canada 5h 41′ 56″
33 Stuart O'Grady   Australia 5h 41′ 56″
34 Unai Etxebarria   Venezuela 5h 41′ 56″
35 Alexander Vinokourov   Kazakhstan 5h 41′ 56″
36 Luis Felipe Laverde   Colombia 5h 41′ 56″
37 Evgeni Petrov   Russia 5h 41′ 56″
38 Daniele Nardello   Italy 5h 42′ 03″
39 Luca Paolini   Italy 5h 42′ 03″
40 Peter van Petegem   Belgium 5h 42′ 03″
41 Erik Dekker   Netherlands 5h 42′ 29″
42 Romāns Vainšteins   Latvia 5h 43′ 03″
43 Gorazd Štangelj   Slovenia 5h 43′ 20″
44 Laurent Brochard   France 5h 44′ 13″
45 Benoît Joachim   Luxembourg 5h 44′ 13″
46 Cristian Moreni   Italy 5h 44′ 13″
47 Alejandro Valverde   Spain 5h 44′ 13″
48 Richard Virenque   France 5h 44′ 13″
49 Philippe Gilbert   Belgium 5h 44′ 13″
50 Uroš Murn   Slovenia 5h 44′ 13″
51 Gerrit Glomser   Austria 5h 45′ 21″
52 Karsten Kroon   Netherlands 5h 47′ 13″
53 Sergei Yakovlev   Kazakhstan 5h 48′ 48″
54 Ruslan Ivanov   Moldova 5h 50′ 35″
55 Lars Michaelsen   Denmark 5h 50′ 35″
56 Tomasz Brożyna   Poland 5h 50′ 35″
57 Yasutaka Tashiro   Japan 5h 50′ 35″
58 Rene Andrle   Czech Republic 5h 50′ 35″
59 Sergey Lagutin   Uzbekistan 5h 50′ 35″
60 Nicki Soerensen   Denmark 5h 50′ 35″
61 Janek Tombak   Estonia 5h 50′ 35″
62 Murilo Fischer   Brazil 5h 50′ 35″
63 Ján Svorada   Czech Republic 5h 50′ 35″
64 Jens Voigt   Germany 5h 50′ 35″
65 Ondřej Sosenka   Czech Republic 5h 50′ 35″
66 Igor Pugaci   Moldova 5h 50′ 35″
67 Filippo Pozzato   Italy 5h 50′ 35″
68 Yaroslav Popovych   Ukraine 5h 50′ 35″
69 Ryan Cox   South Africa 5h 50′ 35″
70 Andrey Kashechkin   Kazakhstan 5h 50′ 35″
71 Martin Riška   Slovakia 5h 51′ 28″
72 Gustav Larsson   Sweden 5h 51′ 28″
73 Andrey Mizurov   Kazakhstan 5h 51′ 28″
74 László Bodrogi   Hungary 5h 56′ 45″
75 Dawid Krupa   Poland 6h 00′ 25″
DPG[1] Levi Leipheimer   United States DNF
Goncalo Amorim   Portugal DNF
Óscar Freire   Spain DNF
Igor González de Galdeano   Spain DNF
Sylvain Chavanel   France DNF
Michael Rasmussen   Denmark DNF
Charlie Wegelius   Great Britain DNF
Thomas Löfkvist   Sweden DNF
Erki Pütsep   Estonia DNF
Jeremy Yates   New Zealand DNF
Andris Naudužs   Latvia DNF
Mark Scanlon   Ireland DNF
Matej Jurčo   Slovakia DNF
Viatcheslav Ekimov   Russia DNF
Gord Fraser   Canada DNF
Christophe Moreau   France DNF
Slawomir Kohut   Poland DNF
Amir Zargari   Iran DNF
Iván Gutiérrez   Spain DNF
Win Vansevenant   Belgium DNF
Marc Wauters   Belgium DNF
Michael Rogers   Australia DNF
Fabian Cancellara   Switzerland DNF
Grégory Rast   Switzerland DNF
Servais Knaven   Netherlands DNF
Victor Hugo Pena Grisales   Colombia DNF
Morten Hegreberg   Norway DNF
Tiaan Kannemeyer   South Africa DNF
José Chacón   Venezuela DNF
Dmitar Gospodinov   Bulgaria DNF
Evgeny Vakker   Kyrgyzstan DNF
Andreas Klöden   Germany DNF
Michael Rich   Germany DNF
Jason McCartney   United States DNF
Baden Cooke   Australia DNF
Matt White   Australia DNF
Rubens Bertogliati   Switzerland DNF
Denis Menchov   Russia DNF
Vladimir Duma   Ukraine DNF
Yuriy Krivtsov   Ukraine DNF
Radosław Romanik   Poland DNF
Sylwester Szmyd   Poland DNF
Julian Winn   Great Britain DNF
Maxim Iglinskiy   Kazakhstan DNF
Bernhard Eisel   Austria DNF
Cândido Barbosa   Portugal DNF
Magnus Bäckstedt   Sweden DNF
Andrus Aug   Estonia DNF
Thor Hushovd   Norway DNF
Mads Kaggestad   Norway DNF
Heath Blackgrove   New Zealand DNF
Robin Reid   New Zealand DNF
Márcio May   Brazil DNF
Eric Wohlberg   Canada DNF
Alexandre Usov   Belarus DNF
Marcelo Arriagada   Chile DNF
Wong Kam Po   Hong Kong DNF
Ivan Stević   Serbia and Montenegro DNF
Michal Hrazdíra   Czech Republic DNF
Robert Hunter   South Africa DNF
Shinri Suzuki   Japan DNF
Abbas Saeidi Tanha   Iran DNF
Jaan Kirsipuu   Estonia DNF
Luciano Pagliarini   Brazil DNF
Stuart Dangerfield   Great Britain DNF
Vladimir Karpets   Russia DNF
Igor Astarloa   Spain DNF
Michael Boogerd   Netherlands DNF
Marlon Pérez Arango   Colombia DNF

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Road Race, Individual, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Cycling at the 2004 Athens Summer Games: Men's Road Race, Individual". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  3. ^ "IOC DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION DECISION REGARDING MR TYLER HAMILTON" (PDF). IOC. 10 August 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
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