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Road Race, Women

Date21 July 1996 — 11:00
StatusOlympic
LocationBuckhead Cycling Course, Atlanta, Georgia
Participants58 from 30 countries
Format104.40 km. (64.87 miles) mass start race.

As always, the favorite was France’s Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli. By 1996, she had won 10 World championships, five on the roads, and had even won a silver medal in mountain biking at the 1993 World Championships. However, at 37, the French cycling federation considered her too old and stopped funding her, but they selected her for the Games anyway.

On the eighth lap of the race, Longo-Ciprelli got away with Italy’s Imelda Chiappa, Clara Hughes (CAN), and Anna Wilson (AUS). In the pouring rain, Wilson was dropped quickly, but the other three stayed away. Early on the final lap, Longo-Ciprelli powered away from Chiappa and Hughes and rode to her much deserved gold medal. Hughes returned to the Olympics in 2000 in cycling and, in 2002 and 2006, competed at the Winter Olympics in speed skating. Winning medals in both years on the ice, she is one of the few athletes (seven thru 2026) to have won medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. The defending champion, Kathy Watt, also competed but missed the winning break and finished ninth.

PosBibCompetitorNOCTimeMargin
1–Jeannie Longo-CiprelliFRA2-36:13–Gold
2–Imelda ChiappaITA–at 0:25Silver
3–Clara HughesCAN–at 0:31Bronze
4–Vera HohlfeldGER–at 0:53
5–Jolanta PolikevičiūtėLTU–at 0:53
6–Zulfiya ZabirovaRUS–at 0:53
7–Alessandra CappellottoITA–at 0:53
8–Barbara HeebSUI–at 0:53
9–Kathy WattAUS–at 0:53
10–Sue PalmerCAN–at 0:53
11–Marie PurvisGBR–at 0:53
12–Rasa PolikevičiūtėLTU–at 0:53
13–Yvonne SchnorfSUI–at 0:53
14–Zinaida StahurskayaBLR–at 0:53
15–Diana RastSUI–at 0:53
16–Catherine MarsalFRA–at 0:53
17–Anna WilsonAUS–at 0:53
18–Ragnhild KostølNOR–at 0:53
19–Sarah PhillipsGBR–at 0:53
20–Heidi Van De VijverBEL–at 0:53
21–Joane SomarribaESP–at 0:53
22–Tanja KleinAUT–at 0:53
23–Ana BarrosPOR–at 0:53
24–Lenka IlavskáSVK–at 0:53
25–Susanne LjungskogSWE–at 0:53
26–Yvonne BrunenNED–at 0:53
27–Eva Loweová-OrvošováSVK–at 0:53
28–Elsbeth VinkNED–at 0:53
29–Jeanne GolayUSA–at 0:53
30–Nataliya KyshchukUKR–at 0:53
31–Susy PrydeNZL–at 0:53
32–Roberta BonanomiITA–at 0:53
33–Rebecca BaileyNZL–at 0:53
34–Tea Vikstedt-NymanFIN–at 0:53
35–Erica GreenRSA–at 1:08
36–Linda BrennemanUSA–at 4:14
37–Alison DunlapUSA–at 5:08
38–Marion ClignetFRA–at 5:37
39–Tracey WatsonAUS–at 6:22
40–Fátima BlázquezESP–at 10:14
41–Guo XinghongCHN–at 13:34
42–Jackie MartinRSA–at 16:59
43–Caroline AlexanderGBR–at 17:34
DNF–Linda JacksonCAN––
DNF–Zhao HaijuanCHN––
DNF–Dania PérezCUB––
DNF–Camille SolisBIZ––
DNF–Svetlana SamokhvalovaRUS––
DNF–Ingunn BollerudNOR––
DNF–Alla VasilenkoKAZ––
DNF–Diana ŽiliūtėLTU––
DNF–Jacqui NelsonNZL––
DNF–Maureen KailaESA––
DNF–Maritza CorredorCOL––
DNF–Ingrid HaringaNED––
DNF–Kim Yong-MiKOR––
DNF–Svetlana BubnenkovaRUS––
DNF–Izaskun BengoaESP––