Olympedia – Road Race, Women

Road Race, Women

Date	21 July 1996 — 11:00
Status	Olympic
Location	Buckhead Cycling Course, Atlanta, Georgia
Participants	58 from 30 countries
Format	104.40 km. (64.87 miles) mass start race.

Date

21 July 1996 — 11:00

Status

Olympic

Location

Buckhead Cycling Course, Atlanta, Georgia

Participants

58 from 30 countries

Format

104.40 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.

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time	Margin
1	Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli	FRA	2-36:13	–	Gold
2	Imelda Chiappa	ITA	–	at 0:25	Silver
3	Clara Hughes	CAN	–	at 0:31	Bronze
4	Vera Hohlfeld	GER	–	at 0:53
5	Jolanta Polikevičiūtė	LTU	–	at 0:53
6	Zulfiya Zabirova	RUS	–	at 0:53
7	Alessandra Cappellotto	ITA	–	at 0:53
8	Barbara Heeb	SUI	–	at 0:53
9	Kathy Watt	AUS	–	at 0:53
10	Sue Palmer	CAN	–	at 0:53
11	Marie Purvis	GBR	–	at 0:53
12	Rasa Polikevičiūtė	LTU	–	at 0:53
13	Yvonne Schnorf	SUI	–	at 0:53
14	Zinaida Stahurskaya	BLR	–	at 0:53
15	Diana Rast	SUI	–	at 0:53
16	Catherine Marsal	FRA	–	at 0:53
17	Anna Wilson	AUS	–	at 0:53
18	Ragnhild Kostøl	NOR	–	at 0:53
19	Sarah Phillips	GBR	–	at 0:53
20	Heidi Van De Vijver	BEL	–	at 0:53
21	Joane Somarriba	ESP	–	at 0:53
22	Tanja Klein	AUT	–	at 0:53
23	Ana Barros	POR	–	at 0:53
24	Lenka Ilavská	SVK	–	at 0:53
25	Susanne Ljungskog	SWE	–	at 0:53
26	Yvonne Brunen	NED	–	at 0:53
27	Eva Loweová-Orvošová	SVK	–	at 0:53
28	Elsbeth Vink	NED	–	at 0:53
29	Jeanne Golay	USA	–	at 0:53
30	Nataliya Kyshchuk	UKR	–	at 0:53
31	Susy Pryde	NZL	–	at 0:53
32	Roberta Bonanomi	ITA	–	at 0:53
33	Rebecca Bailey	NZL	–	at 0:53
34	Tea Vikstedt-Nyman	FIN	–	at 0:53
35	Erica Green	RSA	–	at 1:08
36	Linda Brenneman	USA	–	at 4:14
37	Alison Dunlap	USA	–	at 5:08
38	Marion Clignet	FRA	–	at 5:37
39	Tracey Watson	AUS	–	at 6:22
40	Fátima Blázquez	ESP	–	at 10:14
41	Guo Xinghong	CHN	–	at 13:34
42	Jackie Martin	RSA	–	at 16:59
43	Caroline Alexander	GBR	–	at 17:34
DNF	Linda Jackson	CAN	–	–
DNF	Zhao Haijuan	CHN	–	–
DNF	Dania Pérez	CUB	–	–
DNF	Camille Solis	BIZ	–	–
DNF	Svetlana Samokhvalova	RUS	–	–
DNF	Ingunn Bollerud	NOR	–	–
DNF	Alla Vasilenko	KAZ	–	–
DNF	Diana Žiliūtė	LTU	–	–
DNF	Jacqui Nelson	NZL	–	–
DNF	Maureen Kaila	ESA	–	–
DNF	Maritza Corredor	COL	–	–
DNF	Ingrid Haringa	NED	–	–
DNF	Kim Yong-Mi	KOR	–	–
DNF	Svetlana Bubnenkova	RUS	–	–
DNF	Izaskun Bengoa	ESP	–	–

Pos

Competitor

NOC

Time

Margin

Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli

FRA