Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

The men's road race, one of the cycling events at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, took place on 28 July at 10 a.m. in central and southwest London and north Surrey,[2] starting and finishing on The Mall.[3]

Men's cycling road race
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Alexander Vinokourov leading the breakaway group in the men's road race, approximately 10 km from the finish line on The Mall.
VenueCentral and southwest London and north Surrey[1]
250 km (155.3 mi)
Date28 July 2012
Competitors144 from 63 nations
Winning time5:45:57
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Alexander Vinokourov  Kazakhstan
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Rigoberto Urán  Colombia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Alexander Kristoff  Norway
← 2008
2016 →

This was the 19th 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

Samuel Sánchez of Spain would have been the defending champion, but due to an injury incurred at the 2012 Tour de France he could not compete.[4]

The race was won by Kazakhstan's Alexander Vinokourov. He sprinted clear of Colombia's Rigoberto Urán, who claimed the silver medal. Alexander Kristoff of Norway won the sprint from the following group to take bronze.[5] Vinokourov was the first man (and, through the 2016 Games, only; multiple women have done so) to win multiple medals in the event; he had previously taken silver in 2000.

Qualification

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The top ten ranked countries in the final standings of the 2011 UCI World Tour qualified to have five riders to represent their respective country in the race. The nations with five-man squads were: Spain, Belgium, Italy, Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, United States and Switzerland; although Luxembourg placed ninth in the rankings, their roster was reduced to two men. Of the other nations on the World Tour, France and Denmark had four riders, Norway and Ireland three, Kazakhstan two and Slovakia, Costa Rica and Latvia one rider each. The top six countries on the UCI Europe Tour – Slovenia, Russia, Portugal, Poland, Turkey and Belarus – in addition to Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, the UCI America Tour top three, UCI Asia Tour leaders Iran and UCI Africa Tour leaders Morocco, had three riders. The remaining nations in the race were represented by either two or one rider. Eritrea, Georgia, and Syria competed in the event for the first time. There were a total of 144 participants.

Pre-race favourites

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The Belfast Telegraph columnist The Punter considered the 2011 World Road Race champion, Mark Cavendish of Great Britain to be the favourite for the race,[6] although his chances were likely dependent on whether the race ended in a sprint finish.[7][failed verification] Cavendish was expected to be greatly assisted by his four-man British team which he labelled his 'dream team' prior to the race and regarded by Bradley Wiggins as 'possibly the strongest fielded in an Olympic road race'.[8][9] The race did not go as planned as Ian Stannard, David Millar, Chris Froome, and Wiggins all finished beyond 90th place and Cavendish came across in 29th.

Tom Boonen of Belgium, Australia's Matthew Goss, André Greipel of Germany were also tipped as potential winners.[10][failed verification] Other sprinters tipped for Medals included Tour de France points classification winner Peter Sagan of Slovakia and Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway – but both riders had perceived weaker teams than those of Great Britain, Belgium and Germany.[10][failed verification] If the race was to have ended in a sprint finish, Sagan and Boonen were tipped for victory, along with other classic specialists such as Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, the silver medalist in 2008, and Philippe Gilbert of Belgium.[citation needed]

The defending champion, Samuel Sánchez of Spain, did not enter the race due to an injury suffered at the 2012 Tour de France.[4]

Course

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Box Hill was climbed nine times in the race

The race was 250 km (155.3 mi) long and began with a mass start.[11][12] Crowds were bolstered by free entry for 150 km of the 250 km route,[13] recent British success in the 2012 Tour de France and the possibility of the host nation winning its first gold medal of the 2012 Olympics through Mark Cavendish. Originally 3,500 paid tickets were made available for the grandstand area on Box Hill where the cyclists would undertake nine laps, but due to demand this was increased to 15,000 tickets.[13]

Schedule

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All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 28 July 2012 10:00 Final

Results

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The peloton as it passed Putney in Southwest London early in the race, en route to Box Hill.
 
The race going through Teddington

The entry list was published on 23 July.[14]

In the table below, "s.t." indicates that the rider crossed the finish line in the same group as the cyclist before him, and was therefore credited with the same finishing time.

Rank Cyclist Nation Time
  Alexander Vinokourov   Kazakhstan 5:45:57
  Rigoberto Urán   Colombia
s.t.
  Alexander Kristoff   Norway 5:46:05
4 Taylor Phinney   United States
s.t.
5 Sergey Lagutin   Uzbekistan
s.t.
6 Stuart O'Grady   Australia
s.t.
7 Jürgen Roelandts   Belgium
s.t.
8 Grégory Rast   Switzerland
s.t.
9 Luca Paolini   Italy
s.t.
10 Jack Bauer   New Zealand
s.t.
11 Lars Boom   Netherlands
s.t.
12 Jakob Fuglsang   Denmark
s.t.
13 Rui Costa   Portugal
s.t.
14 Luis León Sánchez   Spain
s.t.
15 Roman Kreuziger   Czech Republic
s.t.
16 Sergio Henao   Colombia
s.t.
17 Andriy Hryvko   Ukraine
s.t.
18 Alejandro Valverde   Spain
s.t.
19 Philippe Gilbert   Belgium
s.t.
20 Sylvain Chavanel   France
s.t.
21 Janez Brajkovič   Slovenia
s.t.
22 Fumiyuki Beppu   Japan
s.t.
23 Robert Gesink   Netherlands
s.t.
24 Alexandr Kolobnev   Russia
s.t.
25 Lars Petter Nordhaug   Norway
s.t.
26 Jonathan Castroviejo   Spain 5:46:13
27 André Greipel   Germany 5:46:37
28 Tom Boonen   Belgium
s.t.
29 Mark Cavendish   Great Britain
s.t.
30 Arnaud Démare   France
s.t.
31 Francisco Ventoso   Spain
s.t.
32 Murilo Fischer   Brazil
s.t.
33 Tyler Farrar   United States
s.t.
34 Peter Sagan   Slovakia
s.t.
35 Andrey Amador   Costa Rica
s.t.
36 Bernhard Eisel   Austria
s.t.
37 Wong Kam-po   Hong Kong
s.t.
38 Elia Viviani   Italy
s.t.
39 Héctor Rangel   Mexico
s.t.
40 Daryl Impey   South Africa
s.t.
41 Radoslav Rogina   Croatia
s.t.
42 Matti Breschel   Denmark
s.t.
43 Assan Bazayev   Kazakhstan
s.t.
44 José Joaquín Rojas   Spain
s.t.
45 Miguel Ubeto   Venezuela
s.t.
46 Borut Božič   Slovenia
s.t.
47 Ramūnas Navardauskas   Lithuania
s.t.
48 Yukiya Arashiro   Japan
s.t.
49 Manuel Antonio Cardoso   Portugal
s.t.
50 Rene Mandri   Estonia
s.t.
51 Jackson Rodríguez   Venezuela
s.t.
52 Vladimir Isaichev   Russia
s.t.
53 Yauheni Hutarovich   Belarus
s.t.
54 Ivan Stević   Serbia
s.t.
55 David McCann   Ireland
s.t.
56 Aleksejs Saramotins   Latvia
s.t.
57 Martin Elmiger   Switzerland
s.t.
Nicki Sørensen   Denmark
s.t.
59 Gediminas Bagdonas   Lithuania
s.t.
60 Michał Kwiatkowski   Poland
s.t.
61 Danail Petrov   Bulgaria
s.t.
62 Adil Jelloul   Morocco
s.t.
63 Ryder Hesjedal   Canada
s.t.
64 Laurent Didier   Luxembourg
s.t.
65 Jussi Veikkanen   Finland
s.t.
66 Dmytro Krivtsov   Ukraine
s.t.
67 Arnold Alcolea   Cuba
s.t.
68 Kristijan Đurasek   Croatia
s.t.
69 Nelson Oliveira   Portugal
s.t.
70 Tomás Gil   Venezuela
s.t.
71 Lars Bak   Denmark
s.t.
72 Gonzalo Garrido   Chile
s.t.
73 Daniel Teklehaymanot   Eritrea
s.t.
74 Sebastian Langeveld   Netherlands
s.t.
75 Jan Bárta   Czech Republic
s.t.
76 Gustav Larsson   Sweden
s.t.
77 Vegard Laengen   Norway
s.t.
78 Branislau Samoilau   Belarus
s.t.
79 Grega Bole   Slovenia
s.t.
80 Cadel Evans   Australia
s.t.
81 Daniel Schorn   Austria
s.t.
82 Niki Terpstra   Netherlands
s.t.
83 Simon Gerrans   Australia
s.t.
84 Maciej Bodnar   Poland
s.t.
85 Matthew Goss   Australia
s.t.
86 Tony Gallopin   France
s.t.
87 Michael Schär   Switzerland
s.t.
88 Timmy Duggan   United States
s.t.
89 Nicolas Roche   Ireland
s.t.
90 Dan Martin   Ireland
s.t.
91 Michael Rogers   Australia
s.t.
92 Greg Van Avermaet   Belgium
s.t.
93 Chris Horner   United States 5:46:46
94 Ian Stannard   Great Britain 5:46:47
95 Bert Grabsch   Germany
s.t.
96 Michael Albasini   Switzerland
s.t.
97 Lieuwe Westra   Netherlands
s.t.
98 Denis Menchov   Russia 5:46:51
99 Sacha Modolo   Italy
s.t.
100 Stijn Vandenbergh   Belgium
s.t.
101 Vincenzo Nibali   Italy 5:46:53
102 Marcel Sieberg   Germany 5:47:08
103 Bradley Wiggins   Great Britain 5:47:14
104 Tejay van Garderen   United States 5:47:31
105 John Degenkolb   Germany 5:48:49
106 Fabian Cancellara   Switzerland 5:51:40
107 Marco Pinotti   Italy 5:54:04
108 David Millar   Great Britain 5:55:16
109 Chris Froome   Great Britain 5:58:24
110 Ioannis Tamouridis   Greece
s.t.
Maximiliano Richeze   Argentina OTL
Byron Guamá   Ecuador OTL
Mehdi Sohrabi   Iran OTL
Gabor Kasa   Serbia OTL
Ahmet Akdilek   Turkey OTL
Gregolry Panizo   Brazil DNF
Edvald Boasson Hagen   Norway DNF
Azzedine Lagab   Algeria DNF
Spas Gyurov   Bulgaria DNF
Muhamad Othman   Malaysia DNF
Miraç Kal   Turkey DNF
Kemal Küçükbay   Turkey DNF
Muradjan Khalmuratov   Uzbekistan DNF
Magno Nazaret   Brazil DNF
Tony Martin   Germany DNF
Krisztián Lovassy   Hungary DNF
Amir Rusli   Malaysia DNF
Oleg Berdos   Moldova DNF
Michał Gołaś   Poland DNF
Andrei Nechita   Romania DNF
Vasil Kiryienka   Belarus DNF
Alireza Haghi   Iran DNF
Greg Henderson   New Zealand DNF
Giorgi Nadiradze   Georgia DNF
Park Sung-Baek   South Korea DNF
Soufiane Haddi   Morocco DNF
Manuel Rodas   Guatemala DNF
Dan Craven   Namibia DNF
Mouhssine Lahsaini   Morocco DNF
Omar Hasanin   Syria DNF
Jorge Soto   Uruguay DNF
Fabio Duarte   Colombia DNF
Mickaël Bourgain   France DNF
Amir Zargari   Iran DNF
Over time limit (OTL)
Under UCI regulations for one-day road races (article 2.3.039), "Any rider finishing in a time exceeding that of the winner by more than 5% shall not be placed".[15] Applying this to the winning time of Alexander Vinokourov resulted in a time limit of 6 hours, 3 minutes and 14 seconds.

References

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  1. ^ "Olympic road race route officially revealed". Cycling Weekly. 10 February 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2012. This extends the Games into the South West of London and Surrey
  2. ^ "Olympic sport competition schedule". London 2012. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  3. ^ "The Mall | Venues". London 2012. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  4. ^ a b Elkington, Mark (19 July 2012). "Road race champion Sanchez out of Games". Reuters. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  5. ^ "Vinokurov claims Road Race gold". London 2012. 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 6 December 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  6. ^ "The Punter: Gold opportunity for Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish". Belfast Telegraph. 26 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  7. ^ Richard Williams (22 July 2012). "Tour de France 2012: Mark Cavendish wins fourth Champs Elysées sprint". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  8. ^ "London 2012: Mark Cavendish hails the GB 'dream team'". BBC Sport. 26 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  9. ^ Gallagher, Brendan (26 July 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Mark Cavendish and his dream team leave their strategy for Olympic road race in no doubt". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  10. ^ a b Fotheringham, William (27 July 2012). "Mark Cavendish: Thinking outside the box for Team GB at London 2012". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  11. ^ "Olympic Cycling – Road – Information, History, Rules". London 2012. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  12. ^ "Road Race format competition". London 2012. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  13. ^ a b "More spectators will enjoy best views of Olympic Cycling Road Race". 25 January 2012. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  14. ^ "London 2012 Olympic Games: Men's road race start list". cyclingweekly.co.uk. 23 July 2012. Archived from the original on 6 August 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  15. ^ UCI Cycling Regulations, Part II: Road Races, UCI, 1 February 2012, p. 31