# Cycling at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

The men's individual road race at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, was held on September 27, 1988. There were 136 participants from 54 nations in the race over 196.80 km, with 27 cyclists who did not finish. The maximum number of cyclists per nation was three, down from four in previous editions of the event. The event was won by Olaf Ludwig of East Germany, the first medal for the nation in the men's individual road race (and first victory for any German cyclist). West Germany also earned its first medals in the event, with Bernd Gröne's silver and Christian Henn's bronze.

## Background

This was the 13th 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 (and which would be reintroduced alongside the road race in 1996).
Algeria, Andorra, the People's Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, the Republic of the Congo, Monaco, Sierra Leone, Suriname, and the United Arab Emirates each made their debut in the men's individual road race. Great Britain made its 13th 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 196.8 kilometre course over the Tongil-ro Circuit in Paju. The course was "very flat and easy."

## Schedule

All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Tuesday, 27 September 1988 | 9:00 | Final |

## Results

The easy course kept the cyclists together and limited non-finishers; nearly 100 cyclists moved in a large pack through most of the race. Ludwig made two break attempts late, being caught by renowned sprinter Abdoujaparov and aborting the charge the first time. For the second breakaway, he was joined by Gröne; this time, Ludwig continued his attack and outsprinted Gröne at the end to win.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time |
| | Olaf Ludwig | East Germany | 4:32:22 |
| | Bernd Gröne | West Germany | 4:32:25 |
| | Christian Henn | West Germany | 4:32:46 |
| 4 | Bob Mionske | United States | s.t. |
| 5 | Djamolidine Abdoujaparov | Soviet Union | s.t. |
| 6 | Edward Salas | Australia | s.t. |
| 7 | Roberto Pelliconi | Italy | s.t. |
| 8 | Graeme Miller | New Zealand | s.t. |
| 9 | Emili Pérez | Andorra | s.t. |
| 10 | Jozef Regec | Czechoslovakia | s.t. |
| 11 | Jan Mattheus | Belgium | s.t. |
| 12 | Hung Chung Yam | Hong Kong | s.t. |
| 13 | Atle Pedersen | Norway | s.t. |
| 14 | Remig Stumpf | West Germany | 4:32:56 |
| 15 | Michel Zanoli | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 16 | Fabrizio Bontempi | Italy | s.t. |
| 17 | Zdzisław Wrona | Poland | s.t. |
| 18 | Neil Hoban | Great Britain | s.t. |
| 19 | Johnny Dauwe | Belgium | s.t. |
| 20 | Cássio Freitas | Brazil | s.t. |
| 21 | Park Hyeon-gon | South Korea | s.t. |
| 22 | Mario Traxl | Austria | s.t. |
| 23 | Uwe Raab | East Germany | s.t. |
| 24 | Jean-François Laffillé | France | s.t. |
| 25 | Mitsuhiro Suzuki | Japan | s.t. |
| 26 | Marcel Stäuble | Switzerland | s.t. |
| 27 | Erik Johan Sæbø | Norway | s.t. |
| 28 | Jacek Bodyk | Poland | s.t. |
| 29 | Yvan Waddell | Canada | s.t. |
| 30 | Rajko Čubrić | Yugoslavia | s.t. |
| 31 | Juan Arias | Colombia | s.t. |
| 32 | Mićo Brković | Yugoslavia | s.t. |
| 33 | Brian Walton | Canada | s.t. |
| 34 | Johann Lienhart | Austria | s.t. |
| 35 | Daniel Steiger | Switzerland | s.t. |
| 36 | Paul Curran | Great Britain | s.t. |
| 37 | Jari Lähde | Finland | s.t. |
| 38 | Rob Harmeling | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 39 | Mohamed Mir | Algeria | s.t. |
| 40 | Gianluca Bortolami | Italy | s.t. |
| 41 | Dietmar Hauer | Austria | s.t. |
| 42 | Tom Cordes | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 43 | Michel Lafis | Sweden | s.t. |
| 44 | Tang Xuezhong | China | s.t. |
| 45 | Cormac McCann | Ireland | s.t. |
| 46 | José Asconeguy | Uruguay | s.t. |
| 47 | Luděk Štyks | Czechoslovakia | s.t. |
| 48 | Nelson Rodríguez Serna | Colombia | s.t. |
| 49 | John McQuaid | Ireland | s.t. |
| 50 | Leung Hung Tak | Hong Kong | s.t. |
| 51 | Asiat Saitov | Soviet Union | s.t. |
| 52 | Eduardo Manrique | Spain | s.t. |
| 53 | Liu Hong | China | s.t. |
| 54 | Peter Hermann | Liechtenstein | s.t. |
| 55 | Chow Tai Ming | Hong Kong | s.t. |
| 56 | Iraj Amir-Akhori | Iran | s.t. |
| 57 | Anders Jarl | Sweden | s.t. |
| 58 | Perry Merren | Cayman Islands | s.t. |
| 59 | Xavier Pérez | Andorra | s.t. |
| 60 | Riho Suun | Soviet Union | s.t. |
| 61 | Luboš Lom | Czechoslovakia | s.t. |
| 62 | Mark Gornall | Great Britain | s.t. |
| 63 | Wanderley Magalhães Azevedo | Brazil | s.t. |
| 64 | Realdo Jessurun | Suriname | s.t. |
| 65 | Scott McKinley | United States | s.t. |
| 66 | Marcos Mazzaron | Brazil | s.t. |
| 67 | Dubán Ramírez | Colombia | s.t. |
| 68 | Geir Dahlen | Norway | s.t. |
| 69 | Craig Schommer | United States | s.t. |
| 70 | Claude Carlin | France | s.t. |
| 71 | Tommy Nielsen | Denmark | s.t. |
| 72 | Kyoshi Miura | Japan | s.t. |
| 73 | Gervais Rioux | Canada | s.t. |
| 74 | Peter Meinert Nielsen | Denmark | s.t. |
| 75 | Brian Fowler | New Zealand | s.t. |
| 76 | Alcides Etcheverry | Uruguay | s.t. |
| 77 | Luis Rosendo Ramos | Mexico | s.t. |
| 78 | Valter Bonča | Yugoslavia | s.t. |
| 79 | Felice Puttini | Switzerland | s.t. |
| 80 | Gonzalo Aguiar | Spain | s.t. |
| 81 | Paul McCormack | Ireland | s.t. |
| 82 | Uwe Ampler | East Germany | s.t. |
| 83 | Leonardo Sierra | Venezuela | s.t. |
| 84 | Andrés Torres | Guatemala | s.t. |
| 85 | Lee Jin-ok | South Korea | s.t. |
| 86 | Óscar Aquino | Guatemala | s.t. |
| 87 | Raoul Fahlin | Sweden | s.t. |
| 88 | Frank Francken | Belgium | s.t. |
| 89 | Iván Alemany | Spain | s.t. |
| 90 | Sin Dae-cheol | South Korea | 4:34:13 |
| 91 | Laurent Bezault | France | 4:35:19 |
| 91 | Murugayan Kumaresan | Malaysia | 4:35:45 |
| 92 | Syamak Zafarzadeh | Iran | 4:42:47 |
| 93 | Héctor Pérez | Mexico | s.t. |
| 94 | Yoshihiro Tsumuraya | Japan | s.t. |
| 95 | Sebti Benzine | Algeria | 4:43:15 |
| 96 | Raymond Thomas | Jamaica | s.t. |
| 97 | Mobange Amisi | Republic of the Congo | s.t. |
| 98 | Pierre Gouws | Zimbabwe | 4:43:28 |
| 100 | Víctor Lechuga | Guatemala | 4:44:37 |
| 101 | Sultan Khalifa | United Arab Emirates | s.t. |
| 102 | Richard Pascal | Cayman Islands | 4:44:56 |
| 103 | Domingo Villanueva | Philippines | 4:45:20 |
| 104 | Kimpale Mosengo | Republic of the Congo | s.t. |
| 105 | Gary Mandy | Zimbabwe | 4:45:50 |
| 106 | Stéphane Operto | Monaco | 4:46:42 |
| 107 | Arthur Tenn | Jamaica | 4:48:06 |
| 108 | Andrzej Mierzejewski | Poland | s.t. |
| 109 | Dyton Chimwaza | Malawi | 4:52:43 |
| — | Scott Steward | Australia | DNF |
| — | Stephen Fairless | Australia | DNF |
| — | Michael Lewis | Belize | DNF |
| — | Earl Theus | Belize | DNF |
| — | Fitzgerald Joseph | Belize | DNF |
| — | Michele Smith | Cayman Islands | DNF |
| — | Cai Yingquan | China | DNF |
| — | Hsu Jui-te | Chinese Taipei | DNF |
| — | Ndjibu N'Golomingi | Republic of the Congo | DNF |
| — | Byron James | Guyana | DNF |
| — | Mohammad Reza Bajool | Iran | DNF |
| — | Georges Honein | Lebanon | DNF |
| — | Hratch Zadourian | Lebanon | DNF |
| — | Abdel Hamed El-Hadi | Libya | DNF |
| — | Abdullah Badri | Libya | DNF |
| — | Patrick Matt | Liechtenstein | DNF |
| — | Amadu Yusufu | Malawi | DNF |
| — | George Nayeja | Malawi | DNF |
| — | Gabriel Cano | Mexico | DNF |
| — | Wayne Morgan | New Zealand | DNF |
| — | Norberto Oconer | Philippines | DNF |
| — | Frank Williams | Sierra Leone | DNF |
| — | Khalifa Bin Omair | United Arab Emirates | DNF |
| — | Issa Mohamed | United Arab Emirates | DNF |
| — | Enrique Campos | Venezuela | DNF |
| — | Ali Parra | Venezuela | DNF |
| — | Huỳnh Châu | Vietnam | DNF |