Cycling at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

The men's individual road race at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, was held on July 31, 1996. There were 183 participants from 57 nations in the race over 221.85 km, with 116 cyclists finishing.[1] For the first time, the event was open to professionals. Previously, it was restricted to "amateurs" which included state-funded Eastern Bloc athletes.[2] The maximum number of cyclists per nation was five, up from three in previous editions of the event. The event was won by Pascal Richard of Switzerland, the nation's first victory in the men's individual road race and first medal in the event since a bronze in 1936. Rolf Sørensen earned Denmark's third medal in the event, silver just as in 1964 and 1968. Max Sciandri similarly matched Great Britain's best result: a bronze, as in 1896 and 1956.

Men's road race
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Pascal Richard (1998)
VenueAtlanta
DateJuly 31
Competitors183 from 57 nations
Winning time4:53:56
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Pascal Richard
 Switzerland
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Rolf Sørensen
 Denmark
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Max Sciandri
 Great Britain
← 1992
2000 →

Background

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This was the 15th appearance of the event, previously held in 1896 and then at every Summer Olympics since 1936. It replaced the individual time trial event that had been held from 1912 to 1932; with the re-introduction of the time trial in Atlanta, this was the first time that both events were held at the same Games. The 1996 Games were also the first to allow top professional riders to compete; this also resulted in lengthening the distance of the course and increasing the number of riders per nation (to increase teamwork opportunity). There was no clear favorite in the race. Miguel Induráin of Spain was the most prominent cyclist competing, but his skills were far more suited to the time trial—in which he would take gold three days later.[2]

Albania, Armenia, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Oman, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan each made their debut in the men's individual road race. Great Britain made its 15th appearance in the event, the only nation to have competed in each appearance to date.

Competition format and course

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The mass-start race was on a 221.85 kilometre course over the Buckhead Cycling Course in Atlanta. The distance had been increased from previous Olympic road races to be more consistent with professional races.[2][3]

Schedule

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All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)

Date Time Round
Wednesday, 31 July 1996 8:30 Final

Results

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A three-man breakout occurred with 33 kilometres to go, with Richard, Sørensen, and Sciandri getting clear of the peloton. The final sprint went to Richard. A second group of three formed as well, this time with the home-nation cyclist Andreu winning the sprint for fourth place.[2]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time
  Pascal Richard   Switzerland 4:53:56
  Rolf Sørensen   Denmark s.t.
  Max Sciandri   Great Britain + 2"
4 Frankie Andreu   United States + 1' 14"
5 Richard Virenque   France s.t.
6 Melcior Mauri   Spain + 1' 15"
7 Fabio Baldato   Italy + 1' 28"
8 Michele Bartoli   Italy s.t.
9 Zbigniew Spruch   Poland s.t.
10 Johan Museeuw   Belgium s.t.
11 Jesper Skibby   Denmark s.t.
12 Lance Armstrong   United States s.t.
13 Dimitri Konyshev   Russia + 2' 29"
14 Serhiy Ushakov   Ukraine s.t.
15 Wilfried Peeters   Belgium + 2' 32"
16 Olaf Ludwig   Germany + 2' 36"
17 Laurent Brochard   France + 2' 37"
18 Arvis Piziks   Latvia s.t.
19 Neil Stephens   Australia + 2' 38"
20 Erik Zabel   Germany + 2' 47"
21 Laurent Jalabert   France s.t.
22 Kaspars Ozers   Latvia s.t.
23 Robbie McEwen   Australia + 2' 48"
24 Jaan Kirsipuu   Estonia s.t.
25 Frank Vandenbroucke   Belgium s.t.
26 Miguel Induráin   Spain s.t.
27 Vassili Davidenko   Russia s.t.
28 Rolf Aldag   Germany s.t.
29 Andrey Kivilev   Kazakhstan s.t.
30 Ján Svorada   Czech Republic s.t.
31 Juris Silovs   Latvia s.t.
32 Francesco Casagrande   Italy s.t.
33 Andrei Tchmil   Ukraine s.t.
34 Michel Lafis   Sweden s.t.
35 Glenn Magnusson   Sweden + 2' 49"
36 Lauri Aus   Estonia s.t.
37 Maurizio Fondriest   Italy s.t.
38 Erik Dekker   Netherlands s.t.
39 Orlando Rodrigues   Portugal s.t.
40 Brian Holm   Denmark s.t.
41 Steve Bauer   Canada s.t.
42 Lars Michaelsen   Denmark s.t.
43 Oleh Pankov   Ukraine s.t.
44 Werner Riebenbauer   Austria s.t.
45 Erik Breukink   Netherlands s.t.
46 Harald Morscher   Austria s.t.
47 Ruber Marín   Colombia s.t.
48 Pedro Lópes   Portugal s.t.
49 Andres Lauk   Estonia + 2' 50"
50 Slawomir Chrzanowski   Poland s.t.
51 Pavel Tonkov   Russia s.t.
52 Beat Zberg   Switzerland s.t.
53 Alexander Vinokourov   Kazakhstan s.t.
54 Peter Wrolich   Austria s.t.
55 Markus Andersson   Sweden s.t.
56 Aart Vierhouten   Netherlands s.t.
57 Joona Laukka   Finland s.t.
58 Pyotr Ugryumov   Russia s.t.
59 Milan Dvorščík   Slovakia s.t.
60 Johan Bruyneel   Belgium + 2' 51"
61 Douglas Ryder   South Africa s.t.
62 Georg Totschnig   Austria s.t.
63 Kari Myyryläinen   Finland s.t.
64 Michael Barry   Canada s.t.
65 Damian McDonald   Australia s.t.
66 Ric Reid   New Zealand s.t.
67 Abraham Olano   Spain + 2' 52"
68 Ján Valach   Slovakia s.t.
69 Pavel Kavetsky   Belarus s.t.
70 Robert Pintarič   Slovenia s.t.
71 Eduardo Graciano   Mexico + 2' 53"
72 David McCann   Ireland s.t.
73 Veaceslav Oriol   Moldova s.t.
74 Gregory Randolph   United States s.t.
75 Gord Fraser   Canada s.t.
76 George Hincapie   United States s.t.
77 Manuel Fernández   Spain s.t.
78 Nuno Marta   Portugal s.t.
79 Malcolm Elliott   Great Britain s.t.
80 Eric Wohlberg   Canada + 2' 54"
81 Peter Luttenberger   Austria s.t.
82 Mario Cipollini   Italy s.t.
83 Didier Rous   France s.t.
84 Javier de Jesús Zapata   Colombia s.t.
85 Aleksandr Shefer   Kazakhstan s.t.
86 Óscar Giraldo   Colombia s.t.
87 Bjarne Riis   Denmark + 2' 55"
88 Jacques Landry   Canada s.t.
89 Andrey Teteryuk   Kazakhstan s.t.
90 Eduardo Uribe   Mexico s.t.
91 Mauro Ribeiro   Brazil s.t.
92 Dainis Ozols   Latvia s.t.
93 Steve Hegg   United States s.t.
94 Tomasz Brożyna   Poland + 2' 56"
95 Remigijus Lupeikis   Lithuania s.t.
96 Raido Kodanipork   Estonia s.t.
97 Blayne Wikner   South Africa s.t.
98 Stephen Hodge   Australia + 2' 57"
99 John Tanner   Great Britain s.t.
100 Djamolidine Abdoujaparov   Uzbekistan s.t.
101 Marino Alonso   Spain s.t.
102 Patrick Jonker   Australia s.t.
103 Yevgeny Berzin   Russia s.t.
104 Alex Zülle   Switzerland + 2' 58"
105 Rolf Järmann   Switzerland s.t.
106 Romāns Vainšteins   Latvia s.t.
107 Frédéric Moncassin   France + 2' 59"
108 Tristan Hoffman   Netherlands s.t.
109 Tom Steels   Belgium + 3' 00"
110 Thomas Frischknecht   Switzerland + 4' 08"
111 Danny Nelissen   Netherlands + 4' 12"
112 Cândido Barbosa   Portugal + 7' 33"
113 Yevgeny Golovanov   Belarus + 11' 42"
114 Pavel Zaduban   Slovakia s.t.
115 Hussein Monsalve   Venezuela s.t.
116 Irving Aguilar   Mexico + 11' 43"
Besnik Musaj   Albania DNF
Gustavo Artacho   Argentina DNF
Rubén Pegorín   Argentina DNF
Arsen Ghazaryan   Armenia DNF
Lucien Dirksz   Aruba DNF
Aleksandr Sharapov   Belarus DNF
Oleg Bondarik   Belarus DNF
Vyacheslav German   Belarus DNF
Elliot Hubbard   Bermuda DNF
Hernandes Quadri   Brazil DNF
Márcio May   Brazil DNF
Daniel Rogelim   Brazil DNF
Jamil Suaiden   Brazil DNF
Stefan Baraud   Cayman Islands DNF
Víctor Garrido   Chile DNF
Dubán Ramírez   Colombia DNF
Raúl Montaña   Colombia DNF
Héctor Chiles   Ecuador DNF
Paulo Caicedo   Ecuador DNF
Pedro Rodríguez   Ecuador DNF
Lauri Resik   Estonia DNF
Brian Smith   Great Britain DNF
Michael Rich   Germany DNF
Uwe Peschel   Germany DNF
Anton Villatoro   Guatemala DNF
Edwin Santos   Guatemala DNF
Felipe López   Guatemala DNF
Marlon Paniagua   Guatemala DNF
Omar Ochoa   Guatemala DNF
Wong Kam Po   Hong Kong DNF
László Bodrogi   Hungary DNF
Kazuyuki Manabe   Japan DNF
Osamu Sumida   Japan DNF
Park Min-su   South Korea DNF
Yousef Shadi   Libya DNF
Raimondas Rumšas   Lithuania DNF
Ivanas Romanovas   Lithuania DNF
Linas Balčiūnas   Lithuania DNF
Raimondas Vilčinskas   Lithuania DNF
Adan Juárez   Mexico DNF
Domingo González   Mexico DNF
Igor Pugaci   Moldova DNF
Ruslan Ivanov   Moldova DNF
Igor Bonciucov   Moldova DNF
Oleg Tonoritchi   Moldova DNF
Dashnyamyn Tömör-Ochir   Mongolia DNF
Glen Mitchell   New Zealand DNF
Scott Guyton   New Zealand DNF
Brian Fowler   New Zealand DNF
Svein-Gaute Hølestøl   Norway DNF
Youssef Khanfar Al-Shakali   Oman DNF
Dariusz Baranowski   Poland DNF
José Azevedo   Portugal DNF[4]
Róbert Nagy   Slovakia DNF
Miroslav Lipták   Slovakia DNF
Michael Andersson   Sweden DNF
Chen Chih-hao   Chinese Taipei DNF
Mykhailo Khalilov   Ukraine DNF
Volodymyr Pulnikov   Ukraine DNF
Ali Sayed Darwish   United Arab Emirates DNF
Gregorio Bare   Uruguay DNF
Ricardo Guedes   Uruguay DNF
Manuel Guevara   Venezuela DNF
Carlos Maya   Venezuela DNF
José Balaustre   Venezuela DNF
Rubén Abreu   Venezuela DNF
Timothy Jones   Zimbabwe DNF

References

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  1. ^ "Cycling at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games: Men's Road Race, Individual". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Road Race, Individual, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 5, p. 160.
  4. ^ Olympedia shows Azevedo as finishing in 114th place at 11' 43" behind the leader, but both the Official Report and IOC webpage indicate he did not finish.

Sources

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