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

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 →

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.

Summary

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

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

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

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

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

Results

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

Rank Cyclist Nation Time
1st place, gold medalist(s) Paolo Bettini  Italy 5h 41′ 44″
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Sérgio Paulinho  Portugal 5h 41′ 45″
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 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

  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.