PARIS (AP) — Remco Evenepoel captured the gold medal in the men’s time trial at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, finishing ahead of Italian rival Filippo Ganna and Belgian countryman Wout van Aert while conquering the roads that drew his ire and the weather that caused so many wrecks.
Evenepoel traversed the wet, slick course in 36 minutes, 12.16 seconds, before breaking down in tears. The reigning world champion and recent winner of a time trial in the Tour de France, Evenepoel finished nearly 15 seconds ahead of Ganna and 25 seconds ahead of Van Aert, who was waiting for him at the finish.
Josh Tarling was fourth but in brutally disappointing fashion. The two-time British time trial champion had a punctured tire and needed to change his bike, and the time he lost likely cost him a medal. He was 2.16 seconds out of third place.
Brandon McNulty gave the American contingent a solid fifth-place finish after Chloe Dygert took bronze in the women’s race.
The field of 35 men set off in a drizzle in 90-second intervals from Les Invalides about 15 minutes after the conclusion of the women’s time trial. And they were no doubt aware of the dangers lurking on every wet corner after watching Dygert and many other top riders slip to the pavement and watch their gold medal hopes wash away.
The route was designed to honor some of the great French cyclists — it went through Bois de Vincennes park, where two-time Tour de France winner Laurent Fignon trained, and past Vélodrome Jacques Anquetil, named for the five-time Tour winner.
But it was the streets that grabbed the attention of some of the riders. Evenepoel dropped an expletive after a training ride to describe some of the rough surfaces, and the 32.4-kilometer (20-mile) course past such iconic sights as Place de la Bastille was made more hazardous by rain that began before Friday night’s opening ceremony and continued through Saturday.
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Magnus Sheffield of the U.S. was among the riders left to pick themselves off the pavement in the men’s race.
Van Aert was unperturbed by the rain, though. He stuck with a rare and aggressive setup featuring front and back disc wheels — notoriously difficult to control even in the best conditions — in the hopes of an aerodynamic advantage. And it seemed to pay off as the reigning Olympic road race silver medalist set the early time to beat.
Tarling was giving chase but lost precious seconds when his punctured tired forced him into a bike change.
Evenepoel and Ganna, the last two off the start ramp, began taking more aggressive lines as they neared the finish at the gold-tipped Pont Alexandre III bridge. At one point, Ganna nearly crashed into the steel barriers guarding the right side of the course, and the Italian track cycling star fought to keep his wobbling bike underneath him.
Yet nobody was the equal of Evenepoel, who long ago made it clear that the Olympic time trial was this year’s goal.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games