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Road Race, Individual, Men

Date 7 December 1956 — 10:00
StatusOlympic
LocationBroadmeadows, Victoria
Participants88 from 28 countries
Format187.73 km. mass start race (116.6 miles). 11 laps of a 17.0665 km. course.

Italy’s Ercole Baldini was the heavy favorite. In 1954 he had broken the world amateur record for the hour ride, and earlier in 1956 had won the World Championship in the individual pursuit. The course was a fairly hilly ride of 11 laps of a 17.0665 km. course, with two large climbs that both peaked at 12% grades, the second of which over a full kilometre as the riders turned onto Pascoe Vale Road. The race was delayed when three Irish nationalists attempted to start the race. Officials removed them and they then joined 200 supporters in passing out Irish nationalist literature.

Baldini always rode near the front of several breakaways, and on the 8th lap, he dropped everybody and rode the final 50 km. on his own, winning by almost two minutes. After his victory his victory was protested by the French and British, claiming he had been assisted by the photographer’s car. The protest was dismissed. Later in the year, Baldini broke the world hour record, shortly after turning professional. In 1958 he won the Giro d’Italia for his major victory as a pro. He had a solid professional career, but never quite realized the hopes of the Italian tifosi, who were looking for him to be the next Coppi.

PosBibCompetitorNOCTimeMargin
1–Ercole BaldiniITA5-21:17–Gold
2–Arnaud GeyreFRA–at 1:59Silver
3–Alan JacksonGBR–at 1:59Bronze
4–Horst TüllerGER–at 1:59
5–Gustav-Adolf SchurGER–at 1:59
6–Stan BrittainGBR–at 2:23
7–Arnaldo PambiancoITA–at 2:23
8–Maurice MoucheraudFRA–at 2:23
9–Magdaleno CanoMEX–at 2:23
10–Lars NordwallSWE–at 2:23
11–Paul NymanFIN–at 2:23
12–Michel VermeulinFRA–at 2:23
13–Ramón HoyosCOL–at 2:23
14–Bill HolmesGBR–at 2:33
15–Anatoly CherepovichURS–at 2:33
16–Nikolay KolumbetURS–at 2:33
17–Karl-Ivar AnderssonSWE–at 2:33
18–Reinhold PommerGER–at 3:21
19–Harry ReynoldsGBR–at 3:27
20–Roland StröhmSWE–at 3:27
21–Juan PérezCHI–at 4:21
22–Erich HagenGER–at 5:21
23–Norbert VerougstraeteBEL–at 5:30
24–Gustaaf De SmetBEL–at 5:30
25–Geremew DenbobaETH–at 5:41
26–Veselin PetrovićYUG–at 5:41
27–René AbadieFRA–at 6:11
28–Dino BruniITA–at 6:11
29–Pat MurphyCAN–at 6:11
30–Franz WimmerAUT–at 6:11
31–Gunnar GöranssonSWE–at 9:28
32–Viktor KapitonovURS–at 9:28
33–René DecejaURU–at 10:41
34–Aurelio CestariITA–at 13:03
35–Viktor VershininURS–at 13:04
36–Mesfen TesfayeETH–at 13:08
37–Kim Ho-SunKOR–at 13:20
38–Zehaye BahtaETH–at 13:20
39–Pablo HurtadoCOL–at 13:32
40–Jaime VillegasCOL–at 13:32
41–John O'SullivanAUS–at 15:41
42–Frans Van Den BoschBEL–at 16:59
43–Joe BeckerUSA–at 16:59
44–Jim NevinAUS–at 25:45
DNF–Jim NestorAUS––
DNF–Jack TrickeyAUS––
DNF–Walter BortelAUT––
DNF–Rudolf MareschAUT––
DNF–Kurt ScheinAUT––
DNF–François De WagheneireBEL––
DNF–Jimmy DaviesCAN––
DNF–Fred MarkusCAN––
DNF–Jorge LuqueCOL––
DNF–Jaroslav CihlářTCH––
DNF–Jiří OpavskýTCH––
DNF–Jiří NouzaTCH––
DNF–František JursaTCH––
DNF–Palle Lykke JensenDEN––
DNF–Negousse MengistouETH––
DNF–Tetsuo OsawaJPN––
DNF–Im Sang-JoKOR––
DNF–Gaston DumontLUX––
DNF–Rafael VacaMEX––
DNF–Felipe Liñán SaldañaMEX––
DNF–Francisco LozanoMEX––
DNF–Shazada Muhammad Shah-RukhPAK––
DNF–Saleem FarooqiPAK––
DNF–Muhammad Naqi MallickPAK––
DNF–Din MerajPAK––
DNF–Bobby FowlerRSA––
DNF–Jimmy SwiftRSA––
DNF–Jan HettemaRSA––
DNF–Abe JonkerRSA––
DNF–Hylton MitchellTTO––
DNF–Butch NeumannUSA––
DNF–George Van MeterUSA––
DNF–David RhoadsUSA––
DNF–Walter MoyanoURU––
DNF–Eduardo PuertollanoURU––
DNF–Alberto VelázquezURU––
DNF–Franco CacioniVEN––
DNF–Domingo RivasVEN––
DNF–Arsenio ChirinosVEN––
DNF–Antonio MontillaVEN––
DNF–Trần Gia ThuVNM––
DNF–Nguyễn Hw ThoaVNM––
DNF–Ngô Thành LiêmVNM––
DNF–Lê Trung TrungVNM––