Cycling Road at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Cycling is one of a handful of sports that has been held at every Olympics since 1896. Over the years the three European “powerhouses” of road racing, France, Italy, and Netherlands, have dominated the men’s Olympic road race, but in recent times Spain and Great Britain have produced world beaters on the road.

The men’s road race in Tokyo covered 244 km, while the women’s race was over 137 km. The race started in Musashinonomori Park and passed through Kanagawa and Yamanashi before finishing at the Fuji Speedway in the Shizuoka Prefecture. The course was tough with many steep ascents and descents, and a total elevation in the men’s race of 4,865 metres, and 2,692 in the women’s race. The course offered magnificent views of Mount Fuji from various points around the circuit.

The time trial took place on a 22.1 km course in and around the Fuji Speedway, with the men completing two laps, and the women, one. With the two defending champions, Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara and Kristin Armstrong (USA) both being retired, there would be two new time trial champions.

Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz made up for the disappointment of finishing third in the Tour de France less than a week before the Games, to take the men’s road race title and thus become only the second Ecuadorian Olympic champion in any sport. The women’s race was a memorable one in as much as the Austrian rider Anna Kiesenhofer led from start to finish. She was part of a five-rider breakaway straight from the start and with 40 km to go she broke away on her own. Remarkably, she stayed at the head of the field and won by 1:15 from Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands), who raised her arms as she crossed the line, thinking she had won, not realising Kiesenhofer had already crossed the line.

The men’s time trial was won by the former ski jumper, and two-time winner of the Vuelta a España, Slovenia’s Primož Roglič, while the women’s race was won by van Veuten, who made up for that disappointment in the road race, and also helped erase the memory of the horrific crash she endured at Rio, when close to winning he road race gold medal.