| | Event type

Road Race, Individual, Men

Date	23 October 1968 — 9:00
Status	Olympic
Location	Circuito Satélite, Ciudad Satélite, Ciudad de Mexico
Participants	144 from 44 countries
Format	196.2 km. (121.9 miles) mass start race.

The road race course consisted of eight laps of a 24.525 km. course, which was quite hilly. The course allowed the field to break apart more so than in any Olympic road race since the mass start format had begun in 1936. There was no heavy favorite as the last three World Championships had seen nine different riders on the podium. Pierfranco Vianelli broke away from the leading group on the last lap and won with almost a minute and a half to spare. Runner-up Leif Mortensen won the 1969 World Championship. Vianelli had a great professional début the following year, placing seventh in the Tour de France. After that little was heard of him until he concluded an impressive solo win at the Giro d’Italia stage on top of the Großglockner – his last major win.

The Mexico race featured several future cycling greats. “Jempi” Monseré finished in fifth place, but won the professional world title in 1970. Six months later, the Belgian was killed in a collision with a car during a race. Compatriot Roger De Vlaeminck (18th) was the best classics cyclist during the 1970s, excelling in the grueling Paris-Roubaix race, which he won four times. In 2005, De Vlaeminck presented a Belgian television show in which he coached several cyclists from Zimbabwe to appear in the World Cyclo-Cross Championships. Finally, non-finisher Joop Zoetemelk would become a Tour de France winner in 1980, and was second in “La Grand Boucle” no less than six times.

Pos	Bib	Competitor	NOC	Time	Margin
1	–	Pierfranco Vianelli	ITA	4-41:25.24	-----	Gold
2	–	Leif Mortensen	DEN	4-42:49.71	at 1:24.47	Silver
3	–	Gösta Pettersson	SWE	4-43:15.24	at 1:50.00	Bronze
4	–	Stéphan Abrahamian	FRA	4-43:36.54	at 2:11.30
5	–	René Pijnen	NED	4-43:36.81	at 2:11.57
6	–	Jean-Pierre Monseré	BEL	4-43:51.77	at 2:26.53
7	–	Tomas Pettersson	SWE	4-43:58.11	at 2:32.87
8	–	Giovanni Bramucci	ITA	4-43:58.19	at 2:32.95
9	–	Martín Rodríguez	COL	4-43:58.49	at 2:33.25
10	–	Marian Kegel	POL	4-44:00.50	at 2:35.26
11	–	Jan Krekels	NED	4-44:09.70	at 2:44.46
12	–	Burkhard Ebert	FRG	4-44:10.20	at 2:44.96
13	–	Thorleif Andresen	NOR	4-44:10.95	at 2:45.71
14	–	Tore Milsett	NOR	4-44:12.00	at 2:46.76
15	–	Álvaro Pachón	COL	4-44:13.10	at 2:47.86
16	–	José Gómez	ESP	4-44:13.78	at 2:48.54
17	–	Valery Yardy	URS	4-44:15.90	at 2:50.66
18	–	Roger De Vlaeminck	BEL	4-44:24.83	at 2:59.59
19	–	André Dierickx	BEL	4-45:32.91	at 4:07.67
20	–	Alain Vasseur	FRA	4-45:36.59	at 4:11.35
21	–	Imre Géra	HUN	4-45:57.26	at 4:32.02
22	–	Saturnino Rustrián	GUA	4-46:13.03	at 4:47.79
23	–	Jan Smolík	TCH	4-46:30.74	at 5:05.50
24	–	Harrie Jansen	NED	4-46:30.90	at 5:05.66
25	–	Cvitko Bilić	YUG	4-46:31.59	at 5:06.35
26	–	Ole Højlund Pedersen	DEN	4-46:31.78	at 5:06.54
27	–	Agustín Juárez	MEX	4-46:32.50	at 5:07.26
28	–	Luis Zubero	ESP	4-46:34.65	at 5:09.41
29	–	Jørgen Emil Hansen	DEN	4-46:34.66	at 5:09.42
30	–	Pedro Sánchez	COL	4-46:37.94	at 5:12.70
31	–	Flavio Martini	ITA	4-47:56.53	at 6:31.29
32	–	Yury Dmitriyev	URS	4-47:57.02	at 6:31.78
33	–	Daniel Ducreux	FRA	4-47:57.23	at 6:31.99
34	–	Dave Rollinson	GBR	4-47:58.62	at 6:33.38
35	–	Erik Pettersson	SWE	4-47:58.98	at 6:33.74
36	–	Heriberto Díaz	MEX	4-47:59.23	at 6:33.99
37	–	Raimo Honkanen	FIN	4-47:59.52	at 6:34.28
38	–	Svend Erik Bjerg	DEN	4-48:03.08	at 6:37.84
39	–	Rudi Valenčič	YUG	4-48:03.19	at 6:37.95
40	–	Roberto Breppe	ARG	4-48:07.96	at 6:42.72
41	–	Ferenc Keserű	HUN	4-50:30.47	at 9:05.23
42	–	Miguel Lasa	ESP	4-51:05.17	at 9:39.93
43	–	Jesús Sarabia	MEX	4-51:05.18	at 9:39.94
44	–	John Howard	USA	4-52:45.80	at 11:20.56
45	–	Jürgen Tschan	FRG	4-52:50.90	at 11:25.66
46	–	Mauno Uusivirta	FIN	4-52:50.92	at 11:25.68
47	–	Jan Erik Gustavsen	NOR	4-54:41.20	at 13:15.96
48	–	Evaristo Oliva	GUA	4-57:07.48	at 15:42.24
49	–	Jorge Inés	GUA	4-57:07.92	at 15:42.68
50	–	Brian Jolly	GBR	4-57:42.88	at 16:17.64
51	–	Curt Söderlund	SWE	5-01:12.60	at 19:47.36
52	–	Des Thomson	NZL	5-02:33.62	at 21:08.38
53	–	Tekeste Woldu	ETH	5-05:12.23	at 23:46.99
54	–	Roger Gilson	LUX	5-05:12.29	at 23:47.05
55	–	Marcel Roy	CAN	5-05:13.82	at 23:48.58
56	–	Ørnulf Andresen	NOR	5-05:17.84	at 23:52.60
57	–	Ole Wackström	FIN	5-05:18.55	at 23:53.31
58	–	András Takács	HUN	5-05:21.00	at 23:55.76
59	–	Kazimierz Jasiński	POL	5-08:25.94	at 27:00.70
60	–	Gerard Lettoli	SMR	5-10:22.35	at 28:57.11
61	–	Enzo Frisoni	SMR	5-12:46.82	at 31:21.58
62	–	Zygmunt Hanusik	POL	5-20:59.17	at 39:33.93
63	–	Miguel Ángel Sánchez	CRC	5-20:59.18	at 39:33.94
64	–	Joe Jones	CAN	5-30:13.92	at 49:48.68
DNF	–	Juan Alves	ARG	–	–
DNF	–	Héctor Cassina	ARG	–	–
DNF	–	Gerardo Cavaliere	ARG	–	–
DNF	–	Ronald Jonker	AUS	–	–
DNF	–	Peter McDermott	AUS	–	–
DNF	–	Kevin Morgan	AUS	–	–
DNF	–	Donald Wilson	AUS	–	–
DNF	–	Colin Forde	BAR	–	–
DNF	–	Kensley Reece	BAR	–	–
DNF	–	Richard Roett	BAR	–	–
DNF	–	Michael Stoute	BAR	–	–
DNF	–	Joseph Schoeters	BEL	–	–
DNF	–	Jules Béland	CAN	–	–
DNF	–	Yves Landry	CAN	–	–
DNF	–	Jean Barnabe	COD	–	–
DNF	–	Constantin Kabemba	COD	–	–
DNF	–	Samuel Kibamba	COD	–	–
DNF	–	Ignace Mandjambi	COD	–	–
DNF	–	Miguel Samacá	COL	–	–
DNF	–	José Sánchez	CRC	–	–
DNF	–	Humberto Solano	CRC	–	–
DNF	–	José Manuel Soto	CRC	–	–
DNF	–	Sergio Martínez	CUB	–	–
DNF	–	Roberto Menéndez	CUB	–	–
DNF	–	Ulises Valdés	CUB	–	–
DNF	–	Raúl Marcelo Vázquez	CUB	–	–
DNF	–	Noé Medina	ECU	–	–
DNF	–	Víctor Morales	ECU	–	–
DNF	–	Arnulfo Pozo	ECU	–	–
DNF	–	Hipólito Pozo	ECU	–	–
DNF	–	Mauricio Bolaños	ESA	–	–
DNF	–	Francisco Funes	ESA	–	–
DNF	–	David Miranda	ESA	–	–
DNF	–	Juan Molina	ESA	–	–
DNF	–	Agustín Tamames	ESP	–	–
DNF	–	Yemane Negassi	ETH	–	–
DNF	–	Mehari Okubamicael	ETH	–	–
DNF	–	Carmelo Saglimbeni	ETH	–	–
DNF	–	Raimo Suikkanen	FIN	–	–
DNF	–	Jean-Pierre Parenteau	FRA	–	–
DNF	–	Ortwin Czarnowski	FRG	–	–
DNF	–	Dieter Koslar	FRG	–	–
DNF	–	Billy Bilsland	GBR	–	–
DNF	–	Les West	GBR	–	–
DNF	–	Francisco Cuque	GUA	–	–
DNF	–	Tibor Magyar	HUN	–	–
DNF	–	Peter Doyle	IRL	–	–
DNF	–	Morris Foster	IRL	–	–
DNF	–	Liam Horner	IRL	–	–
DNF	–	George Artin	IRQ	–	–
DNF	–	Tino Conti	ITA	–	–
DNF	–	Gwon Jung-Hyeon	KOR	–	–
DNF	–	Tarek Abou Al Dahab	LBN	–	–
DNF	–	Solo Razafinarivo	MAD	–	–
DNF	–	Ng Joo Pong	MAS	–	–
DNF	–	Johari Ramli	MAS	–	–
DNF	–	Gabriel Cuéllar	MEX	–	–
DNF	–	Joop Zoetemelk	NED	–	–
DNF	–	Bryce Beeston	NZL	–	–
DNF	–	John Dean	NZL	–	–
DNF	–	Richie Thomson	NZL	–	–
DNF	–	Zenon Czechowski	POL	–	–
DNF	–	Emil Rusu	ROU	–	–
DNF	–	Bruno Hubschmid	SUI	–	–
DNF	–	Petr Hladík	TCH	–	–
DNF	–	Somchai Chantarasamrit	THA	–	–
DNF	–	Suriyong Hemint	THA	–	–
DNF	–	Somkuan Leehapun	THA	–	–
DNF	–	Chainarong Sophonpong	THA	–	–
DNF	–	Deng Chueng-Hwai	TPE	–	–
DNF	–	Liu Cheng-Tao	TPE	–	–
DNF	–	Shue Ming-Shu	TPE	–	–
DNF	–	Vladislav Nelyubin	URS	–	–
DNF	–	Anatoly Starkov	URS	–	–
DNF	–	Dan Butler	USA	–	–
DNF	–	David Chauner	USA	–	–
DNF	–	Wes Wessberg	USA	–	–
DNF	–	Bùi Văn Hoàng	VNM	–	–
DNF	–	Trương Kim Hùng	VNM	–	–
DNF	–	Tanasije Kuvalja	YUG	–	–