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Road Race, Individual, Men

Date22 October 1964 — 10:00
StatusOlympic
LocationHachioji Road Race Course, Hachioji, Tokyo
Participants132 from 35 countries
Format194.832 km. mass start race. Eight laps of 24.354 km. course.

The course of the 1964 road race began in front of the Takao Train Station, and comprised eight laps of a 24.354 km. course, making the final distance 194.832 km. The course featured a fairly steep, but short, climb of 65 metres at the 11th km., followed by a short descent, and then a mild climb over the next few kilometers. However, the course was not really difficult enough to break apart the peleton. In addition, it was held in a heavy rain, which slowed the pace somewhat.

The Amateur Road Race World Championships had been won in 1961 by Jean Jourden (FRA), in 1962-63 by Italy’s Renato Bongioni and Flaviano Vicentini, respectively. But none of these three entered the Olympic Road Race, both Italians having turned pro. Earlier in 1964, the 1964 World Championship was won by the young Belgian rider, Eddy Merckx.

The relatively easy course kept the pack mostly together throughout the race. Of the 132 starters, 107 finished, and the first 99 riders crossed the finishing line together. A few break-outs occurred, but the last of those ended 15 km from the finish, Merckx tried to get away with 1.5 km to go, but only managed a gap of some 20 m before getting caught by the pack. The two leaders of the sprint-out were Italy’s Mario Zanin and Denmark’s Kjell Rodian, with Zanin narrowly edging Rodian to win the gold medal.

Eddy Merckx was right there at the finish but the great Belgian rider was not a strong enough sprinter to win the race, and he finished 12th. His time would come. Merckx turned professional in April 1965 and became the greatest rider in the professional peleton, and is usually considered the greatest cyclist of all-time. He was later nicknamed “The Cannibal” for his aggressive riding style and never-ending hunger for victories, which helped him win 5 Tours de France, 5 Giros d’Italia, 3 World Professional Road titles, and multiple wins in the one-day classics.

The results of the 1964 road race are somewhat in dispute. The 1964 Official Report and 1964 Official Results both list “all” finishers, but they only agree in the first 35 places. In fact, the Report only lists 86 finishers while the Results lists 107 finishers. We have consulted multiple sources to try to make sense of this problem, including contacting national federations and some of the riders involved in the race. We believe that the following results are an accurate representation of the finishers, but recognize that this problem may not be fully resolved.

PosBibCompetitorNOCTimeMargin
1–Mario ZaninITA4-39:51.63–Gold
2–Kjell RodianDEN–at 0:00.02Silver
3–Walter GodefrootBEL–at 0:00.11Bronze
4–Ray BilneyAUS–at 0:00.11
5–José Manuel LópezESP–at 0:00.11
6–Wilfried PeffgenGER–at 0:00.11
7–Gösta PetterssonSWE–at 0:00.11
8–Delmo DelmastroARG–at 0:00.11
9–Roberto BreppeARG–at 0:00.11
10–Laurence ByersNZL–at 0:00.11
11–Erik PetterssonSWE–at 0:00.11
12–Eddy MerckxBEL–at 0:00.11
13–Jan KudraPOL–at 0:00.11
14–Michael HollingsworthAUS–at 0:00.11
15–Ole Højlund PedersenDEN–at 0:00.11
16–Hans LüthiSUI–at 0:00.11
17–Dick JohnstoneNZL–at 0:00.11
18–Roger SwertsBEL–at 0:00.11
19–Johny SchleckLUX–at 0:00.11
20–Bart ZoetNED–at 0:00.11
21–Flemming Gleerup HansenDEN–at 0:00.11
22–Daniel GráčTCH–at 0:00.11
23–José Manuel LasaESP–at 0:00.11
24–János JuszkóHUN–at 0:00.11
25–Colin LewisGBR–at 0:00.11
26–Terry WestGBR–at 0:00.11
27–Gerben KarstensNED–at 0:00.11
28–Severino AndreoliITA–at 0:00.11
29–Burkhard EbertGER–at 0:00.12
30–Erwin JaisliSUI–at 0:00.12
31–Derek HarrisonGBR–at 0:00.12
32–Mariano DíazESP–at 0:00.12
33–Felice GimondiITA–at 0:00.13
34–Jorge MarinéESP–at 0:00.13
35–András MészárosHUN–at 0:00.13
36–Chow Kwong ManHKG–at 0:00.13
37–Masashi OmiyaJPN–at 0:00.13
38–Jos BoonsBEL–at 0:00.13
39–Louis PfenningerSUI–at 0:00.13
40–Harry SteevensNED–at 0:00.13
41–Gaynan SaydkhuzhinURS–at 0:00.14
42–Jan PieterseNED–at 0:00.14
43–Yanjingiin BaatarMGL–at 0:00.14
44–Jan MagieraPOL–at 0:00.14
45–Ricardo VázquezURU–at 0:00.15
46–Martín RodríguezCOL–at 0:00.15
47–Antal MegyerdiHUN–at 0:00.15
48–Francisco PérezURU–at 0:00.15
49–Rubén PlacánicaARG–at 0:00.16
50–Sven HamrinSWE–at 0:00.16
51–Mike CowleyGBR–at 0:00.16
52–Sture PetterssonSWE–at 0:00.16
53–Francis BazireFRA–at 0:00.17
54–Immo RittmeyerGER–at 0:00.17
55–Pablo HernándezCOL–at 0:00.17
56–Anatoly OlizarenkoURS–at 0:00.17
57–Gabriel MoiceanuROU–at 0:00.17
58–Constantin CiocanROU–at 0:00.18
59–Ion CosmaROU–at 0:00.18
60–Yury MelikhovURS–at 0:00.18
61–Des ThomsonNZL–at 0:00.18
62–Aleksey PetrovURS–at 0:00.18
63–Hans HeinemannSUI–at 0:00.19
64–Vid CencicURU–at 0:00.19
65–David HumphreysAUS–at 0:00.19
66–Max GraceNZL–at 0:00.20
67–Jiří DalerTCH–at 0:00.20
68–Malcolm McCredieAUS–at 0:00.20
69–Rubén Darío GómezCOL–at 0:00.20
70–František ŘezáčTCH–at 0:00.20
71–Jan SmolíkTCH–at 0:00.20
72–Stephen LimMAS–at 0:00.20
73–Arturo RomeoPHI–at 0:00.20
74–Ole RitterDEN–at 0:00.20
75–John AllisUSA–at 0:00.20
76–Phạm Văn SauVNM–at 0:00.20
77–Andrzej BławdzinPOL–at 0:00.20
78–Günter HoffmannGER–at 0:00.20
79–Carmelo SaglimbeniETH–at 0:00.20
80–Lucien AimarFRA–at 0:00.20
81–Mashallah Amin SorourIRI–at 0:00.20
82–Rajmund ZielińskiPOL–at 0:00.20
83–László MahóHUN–at 0:00.20
84–Teófilo TodaPER–at 0:00.20
85–Luvsangiin ErkhemjamtsMGL–at 0:00.20
86–Her Jong-ChauTPE–at 0:00.20
87–Shue Ming-ShuTPE–at 0:00.20
88–Gheorghe BădărăROU–at 0:00.20
89–Taworn JirapanTHA–at 0:00.20
90–Trần Văn NenVNM–at 0:00.20
91–Pakdee ChinjindaTHA–at 0:00.20
92–Chow Kwong ChoiHKG–at 0:00.20
93–Melesio SotoMEX–at 0:00.20
94–Bernard GuyotFRA–at 0:00.20
95–Christian RaymondFRA–at 0:00.20
96–Edy SchützLUX–at 0:00.20
97–Daniel OlivaresPHI–at 0:00.20
98–Cornelio PadillaPHI–at 0:00.20
99–Sayed Esmail HosseiniIRI–at 0:00.20
100–Michael HiltnerUSA–at 20:02.37
101–Akbar PoudehIRI–at 20:07.37
102–Wilde BaridónURU–at 21:58.37
103–Luvsangiin BuudaiMGL–at 22:05.37
104–Francisco CoronelMEX–at 22:23.37
105–Hiroshi YamaoJPN–at 30:48.37
106–Toshiro AkamatsuJPN–at 47:18.37
107–Lee Seon-BaeKOR–at 47:24.37
DNF–An Byeong-HunKOR––
DNF–Chainarong SophonpongTHA––
DNF–Davoud AkhlagiIRI––
DNF–Deng Chueng-HwaiTPE––
DNF–Ferruccio ManzaITA––
DNF–Fisihasion GhebreyesusETH––
DNF–Heriberto DíazMEX––
DNF–Hwang Chang-SikKOR––
DNF–Raymond CastillouxUSA––
DNF–Mario EscobarCOL––
DNF–Michael AndrewMAS––
DNF–Norberto ArceoPHI––
DNF–Choijiljavyn SamandMGL––
DNF–Suleman AmbayeETH––
DNF–Hamid SupaatMAS––
DNF–Tom MontemageUSA––
DNF–Vitool CharoenrutTHA––
DNF–Wi Gyeong-YongKOR––
DNF–Yemane NegassiETH––
DQ–Safarrudin ZainMAS––
DQ–Nguyễn Văn KhoiVNM––
DQ–Masanori TsujiJPN––
DQ–Moisés LópezMEX––
DQ–Mok Sau HeiHKG––
DQ–Nguyễn Văn NganVNM––