| | Event type

Road Race, Individual, Men

Date	7 September 1972 — 10:00
Status	Olympic
Location	Rundkurs Grünwald, Grünwald
Participants	163 from 48 countries
Format	200 km. (124.2 miles) mass start race.

The favorite was the Belgian Freddy Maertens, who had been runner-up at the 1971 World Championships, and had won 22 races in 1971 and 28 in 1972. The 1971 World Champion, Régis Ovion was also present in München. The course was a relatively easy and flat one. A group of some 35 riders got away on the sixth lap. Over the last lap, the Dutchman Hennie Kuiper was able to go off the front of the breakaway and eventually won by 27 seconds. The third-placed rider was Jaime Huélamo, but he was disqualified after a positive doping test for Coramine, a stimulant. Because fourth-place finisher Bruce Biddle was not tested for drugs, no bronze medal was awarded. Maertens finished 13th and Ovion 15th. The race was marred by the presence of four cyclists from the Irish Republican Army, who jumped into the field to protest the Irish riders competing against cyclists from Northern Ireland (who competed for Great Britain). They were arrested but were later released.

Hennie Kuiper had an excellent, and very long, career as a pro, winning the World Championships (1975), Paris-Roubaix (1983), the Giro di Lombardia (1981), Milan-San Remo (1985), the Tour de Suisse (1976), and the Ronde de Vlaanderen (1981), as well as twice finishing second at the Tour de France (1977, 1980).

Pos	Bib	Competitor	NOC	Time	Margin
1	–	Hennie Kuiper	NED	4-14:37	–	Gold
2	–	Clyde Sefton	AUS	–	at 0:27	Silver
3	–		UNK	–	–		1
4	–	Bruce Biddle	NZL	–	at 0:27
5	–	Phil Bayton	GBR	–	at 0:30
6	–	Phil Edwards	GBR	–	at 0:30
7	–	Wilfried Trott	FRG	–	at 0:30
8	–	Francesco Moser	ITA	–	at 0:36
9	–	Miguel Samacá	COL	–	at 0:36
10	–	Jesús Sarabia	MEX	–	at 0:36
11	–	Piet van Katwijk	NED	–	at 0:36
12	–	Cees Priem	NED	–	at 0:36
13	–	Freddy Maertens	BEL	–	at 0:36
14	–	Roman Humenberger	AUT	–	at 0:36
15	–	Régis Ovion	FRA	–	at 0:36
16	–	Francisco Elorriaga	ESP	–	at 0:36
17	–	Tore Milsett	NOR	–	at 0:36
18	–	Jiří Prchal	TCH	–	at 0:36
19	–	Bruno Hubschmid	SUI	–	at 0:36
20	–	Iwan Schmid	SUI	–	at 0:36
21	–	Jørgen Marcussen	DEN	–	at 0:36
22	–	Erwin Tischler	FRG	–	at 0:36
23	–	András Takács	HUN	–	at 0:36
24	–	Ueli Sutter	SUI	–	at 0:36
25	–	Fedor den Hertog	NED	–	at 0:36
26	–	Fernando Cruz	COL	–	at 0:36
27	–	Erny Kirchen	LUX	–	at 0:36
28	–	Ove Jensen	DEN	–	at 0:36
29	–	Graeme Jose	AUS	–	at 0:44
30	–	Karl-Heinz Oberfranz	GDR	–	at 2:32.0
31	–	Ryszard Szurkowski	POL	–	at 2:32.0
32	–	John Trevorrow	AUS	–	at 2:32.0
33	–	Wolfgang Wesemann	GDR	–	at 2:32.0
34	–	Valery Likhachov	URS	–	at 2:32.0
35	–	Anatoly Starkov	URS	–	at 2:32.0
36	–	Lucjan Lis	POL	–	at 2:32.0
37	–	José Viejo	ESP	–	at 2:32.0
38	–	Liam Horner	IRL	–	at 2:32.0
39	–	Bernard Bourreau	FRA	–	at 2:32.0
40	–	Kieron McQuaid	IRL	–	at 2:32.0
41	–	Jiří Háva	TCH	–	at 2:32.0
42	–	Lennart Fagerlund	SWE	–	at 2:32.0
43	–	Radoš Čubrić	YUG	–	at 2:32.0
44	–	Sven-Åke Nilsson	SWE	–	at 2:32.0
45	–	Staf Hermans	BEL	–	at 2:32.0
46	–	Johann Summer	AUT	–	at 2:32.0
47	–	Petr Matoušek	TCH	–	at 2:32.0
48	–	Henning Jørgensen	DEN	–	at 2:32.0
49	–	Walter Riccomi	ITA	–	at 2:32.0
50	–	Paul Brydon	NZL	–	at 2:32.0
51	–	Jože Valenčič	YUG	–	at 2:32.0
52	–	Brian Chewter	CAN	–	at 2:32.0
53	–	Tekeste Woldu	ETH	–	at 2:32.0
54	–	Tomás Nistal	ESP	–	at 2:32.0
55	–	Wolfgang Steinmayr	AUT	–	at 2:32.0
56	–	Lucien Didier	LUX	–	at 2:32.0
57	–	Alfred Gaida	FRG	–	at 2:32.0
58	–	Donald Allan	AUS	–	at 2:32.0
59	–	Lucien De Brauwere	BEL	–	at 2:32.0
60	–	Teodor Vasile	ROU	–	at 2:32.0
61	–	John Howard	USA	–	at 2:32.0
62	–	Tom Morris	CAN	–	at 2:32.0
63	–	John Allis	USA	–	at 2:32.0
64	–	Tibor Debreceni	HUN	–	at 2:32.0
65	–	Marcel Duchemin	FRA	–	at 2:32.0
66	–	Juan Morales	COL	–	at 2:32.0
67	–	Imre Géra	HUN	–	at 2:32.0
68	–	Peter Weibel	FRG	–	at 2:32.0
69	–	Peter Doyle	IRL	–	at 2:32.0
70	–	Thorleif Andresen	NOR	–	at 2:32.0
71	–	Rudolf Mitteregger	AUT	–	at 2:32.0
72	–	Gilles Durand	CAN	–	at 2:36.0
73	–	Ali Hüryılmaz	TUR	–	at 2:36.0
74	–	Walter Tardáguila	URU	–	at 2:51.0
75	–	Gregorio Aldo Arencibia	CUB	–	at 4:17.0
76	–	Stanisław Szozda	POL	–	at 6:04.0
DNF	–	Rissom Gebre Meskei	ETH	–	–
DNF	–	Fisihasion Ghebreyesus	ETH	–	–
DNF	–	Ivan Trifonov	URS	–	–
DNF	–	Miguel Silva Júnior	BRA	–	–
DNF	–	José Prieto	CUB	–	–
DNF	–	Pedro Rodríguez	CUB	–	–
DNF	–	Raúl Marcelo Vázquez	CUB	–	–
DNF	–	Noel Teggart	IRL	–	–
DNF	–	Dave Lloyd	GBR	–	–
DNF	–	Daniele Cesaretti	SMR	–	–
DNF	–	Jean Bernard Djambou	CMR	–	–
DNF	–	Roberto Breppe	ARG	–	–
DNF	–	Wolfram Kühn	GDR	–	–
DNF	–	Mario Margalef	URU	–	–
DNF	–	Alberto Rodríguez	URU	–	–
DNF	–	Jorge Jukich	URU	–	–
DNF	–	Paul Kind	LIE	–	–
DNF	–	Vern Hanaray	NZL	–	–
DNF	–	Hugo Schär	SUI	–	–
DNF	–	Grimon Langson	MAW	–	–
DNF	–	Jan Smyrak	POL	–	–
DNF	–	Sataporn Kantasa-Ard	THA	–	–
DNF	–	Sivaporn Ratanapool	THA	–	–
DNF	–	Pramote Sangskulrote	THA	–	–
DNF	–	Panya Singprayool	THA	–	–
DNF	–	Abdul Bahar-ud-Din Rahum	MAS	–	–
DNF	–	Daud Ibrahim	MAS	–	–
DNF	–	Saad Fadzil	MAS	–	–
DNF	–	Omar Saad	MAS	–	–
DNF	–	Harry Hannus	FIN	–	–
DNF	–	Mauno Uusivirta	FIN	–	–
DNF	–	Tapani Vuorenhela	FIN	–	–
DNF	–	Ole Wackström	FIN	–	–
DNF	–	Mevlüt Bora	TUR	–	–
DNF	–	Rıfat Çalışkan	TUR	–	–
DNF	–	Haluk Günözgen	TUR	–	–
DNF	–	Fabio Acevedo	COL	–	–
DNF	–	Orlando Bates	BAR	–	–
DNF	–	Dieter Gonschorek	GDR	–	–
DNF	–	Arve Haugen	NOR	–	–
DNF	–	Jan Henriksen	NOR	–	–
DNF	–	Suleman Abdul Rahman	ETH	–	–
DNF	–	Pat Gellineau	TTO	–	–
DNF	–	Clive Saney	TTO	–	–
DNF	–	Anthony Sellier	TTO	–	–
DNF	–	Vernon Stauble	TTO	–	–
DNF	–	Lindsay Gauld	CAN	–	–
DNF	–	Tarek Abou Al Dahab	LBN	–	–
DNF	–	Eigil Sørensen	DEN	–	–
DNF	–	Hector Edwards	BAR	–	–
DNF	–	Joseph Evouna	CMR	–	–
DNF	–	Eugen Pleško	YUG	–	–
DNF	–	Alois Holík	TCH	–	–
DNF	–	Janez Zakotnik	YUG	–	–
DNF	–	Robert Oliver	NZL	–	–
DNF	–	Nicolas Owona	CMR	–	–
DNF	–	Joseph Kono	CMR	–	–
DNF	–	Frans Van Looy	BEL	–	–
DNF	–	John Clewarth	GBR	–	–
DNF	–	Franco Ongarato	ITA	–	–
DNF	–	Aldo Parecchini	ITA	–	–
DNF	–	József Peterman	HUN	–	–
DNF	–	Gbedikpe Emmanuel Amouzou	TOG	–	–
DNF	–	Charles Leodo	TOG	–	–
DNF	–	Tompson Mensah	TOG	–	–
DNF	–	Maximo Junta	PHI	–	–
DNF	–	Agustín Alcántara	MEX	–	–
DNF	–	Francisco Huerta	MEX	–	–
DNF	–	Emile Waldteufel	USA	–	–
DNF	–	Francisco Vázquez	MEX	–	–
DNF	–	Robert Schneider	USA	–	–
DNF	–	Luiz Carlos Flores	BRA	–	–
DNF	–	Bernt Johansson	SWE	–	–
DNF	–	Leif Hansson	SWE	–	–
DNF	–	Enrique Ayllón	PER	–	–
DNF	–	Gilberto Chocce	PER	–	–
DNF	–	Fernando Cuenca	PER	–	–
DNF	–	Carlos Espinoza	PER	–	–
DNF	–	Howard Fenton	JAM	–	–
DNF	–	Radcliffe Lawrence	JAM	–	–
DNF	–	Michael Lecky	JAM	–	–
DNF	–	Xavier Mirander	JAM	–	–
DNF	–	Valery Yardy	URS	–	–
DNF	–	Kensley Reece	BAR	–	–
DNF	–	Raymond Martin	FRA	–	–
DNF	–	Raphael Kazembe	MAW	–	–
DNF	–	Shue Ming-Fa	TPE	–	–
DQ	–	Jaime Huélamo	ESP	[at 0:27]	–		2