Road Race, Individual, Men

With the Soviet-led boycott, the top riders from the Soviet Union, the GDR, and Poland were not present in Los Angeles. By now, American riders were becoming more prominent internationally and the home course advantage and absent Eastern European riders led many to pick American riders as favorites. Davis Phinney was highly considered, as the best sprinter on the US team, but the course was a hilly one of 12 laps over 190.2 km., and Phinney, not a great climber, missed the winning break, eventually finishing fifth. American Alexi Grewal and Canadian Steve Bauer broke away on the penultimate lap. Though they never had a large lead on the trailing Norwegian twosome of Dag Otto Lauritzen and Morten Saether, Grewal and Bauer were able to stay away to the finish. Bauer was considered the better sprinter but Grewal pipped him in the sprint by less than a wheel. Bauer later had a solid professional career, finishing fourth at the 1988 Tour de France, and wearing the yellow jersey in both 1988 and 1990. One rider who did not finish was Miguel Induráin, who from 1991-95 became the first cyclist to win the Tour de France in five consecutive years.

Grewal also turned professional but his career was less impressive. He won a few domestic races but never won in Europe in a major international race. Grewal’s mere participation in 1984 was controversial. He had tested positive only 10 days before the Olympics, after the Coors Classic in Colorado, for phenylethylamine, a stimulant. He was suspended for 30 days by the US Cycling Federation and dropped from the Olympic team. But Grewal appealed the suspension, noting that he took albuterol for asthma and the tests were not sophisticated enough to tell the difference between the two drugs. Reinstated, he was able to race at Los Angeles.