# 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. For the first time, the event was open to professionals. Previously, it was restricted to "amateurs" which included state-funded Eastern Bloc athletes. 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.

## Background

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.
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

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.

## Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Wednesday, 31 July 1996 | 8:30 | Final |

## Results

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.
| 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 |
| — | 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 |