# Cycling at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

The men's road race was one of 18 cycling events of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The race started and finished on 6 August at Fort Copacabana and was won by Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium. It was Belgium's first victory in the men's individual road race since 1952 and second overall, tying France and the Soviet Union for second-most behind Italy (five). Belgium matched Italy for most total medals, at seven. Jakob Fuglsang won Denmark's fourth silver medal in the event; the nation had yet to win gold. Rafał Majka's bronze was Poland's first medal in the event since 1980.

## Qualification

Nations could earn qualification spots primarily through UCI tours. The top five nations at the UCI World Tour earned five quota places, with nations further down the rankings earning progressively fewer quota places. There were also up to three places per nation available through continental tours and championships. Individuals could also earn places if their nation's ranking was insufficient. A few places were reserved for the host nation and Tripartite Commission invitations.

## Background

This was the 20th 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; the time trial had been re-introduced in 1996 alongside the road race. Azerbaijan, the Dominican Republic, Kosovo, and Laos each made their debut in the men's individual road race. Great Britain made its 20th appearance in the event, the only nation to have competed in each appearance to date.

### Pre-race favourites

Due to the grueling nature of the course, the riders expected to finish with a medal were all known for their climbing and descending skills. Favorites heading into the race were Alejandro Valverde, Vincenzo Nibali, Chris Froome, Joaquim Rodríguez and Julian Alaphilippe. If Froome had won gold, he would have become the first person to ever win Tour de France and the cycling road race in the same season.

## Course

The men's course was 241.5 km (150.1 mi) long. Starting at Fort Copacabana, the peloton headed west to pass through Ipanema, Barra, and Reserva Maripendi Beaches via the coastal road leading to the 24.8 km (15.4 mi) Pontal / Grumari circuit loop. After four laps of the Grumari sector (99.2 km of 241.5 km), the course returned east via the same coastal road to enter the 25.7 km (16.0 mi) Vista Chinesa Circuit loop at Gávea for three laps (77.1 km (47.9 mi) of 241.5 km (150.1 mi)) before finishing back at Fort Copacabana. As with all road races in the Olympic Games, the athletes are escorted by law enforcement to keep traffic and bystanders out of harm's way. For the 2016 Olympics, escort for the riders is done by the Brazilian Federal Highway Police (PRF).

## 2016 Olympic cycling road course maps

| 2016 Olympic Cycling Men's Road Course: 241.5 km | 2016 Olympic Cycling Grumari Circuit: 24.8 km | 2016 Olympic Cycling Vista Chinesa Circuit: 25.7 km |

## Schedule

All times are Brasília Time (UTC−3).
| Date | Time | Round |
| Saturday, 6 August 2016 | 9:30 | Final |

## Start list

The following NOCs had qualified riders to compete in the road race event. The following riders were confirmed by their respective NOCs.
| NOC | Number | Athletes |
| Algeria | 2 | Abderrahmane Mansouri Youcef Reguigui |
| Argentina | 3 | Daniel Díaz Maximiliano Richeze Eduardo Sepúlveda |
| Australia | 4 | Rohan Dennis Simon Clarke Richie Porte Scott Bowden |
| Austria | 2 | Stefan Denifl Georg Preidler |
| Azerbaijan | 1 | Maksym Averin |
| Belarus | 2 | Vasil Kiryienka Kanstantsin Sivtsov |
| Belgium | 5 | Philippe Gilbert Serge Pauwels Greg van Avermaet Tim Wellens Laurens De Plus |
| Bolivia | 1 | Óscar Soliz |
| Brazil | 2 | Murilo Fischer Kléber Ramos |
| Bulgaria | 1 | Stefan Hristov |
| Canada | 3 | Antoine Duchesne Hugo Houle Michael Woods |
| Chile | 1 | José Luis Rodríguez |
| Colombia | 5 | Esteban Chaves Sergio Henao Miguel Ángel López Jarlinson Pantano Rigoberto Urán |
| Costa Rica | 1 | Andrey Amador |
| Croatia | 2 | Kristijan Đurasek Matija Kvasina |
| Czech Republic | 4 | Jan Bárta Leopold König Zdeněk Štybar Petr Vakoč |
| Denmark | 3 | Jakob Fuglsang Christopher Juul-Jensen Chris Anker Sørensen |
| Dominican Republic | 1 | Diego Milán |
| Ecuador | 1 | Byron Guamá |
| Eritrea | 1 | Daniel Teklehaimanot |
| Estonia | 2 | Tanel Kangert Rein Taaramäe |
| Ethiopia | 1 | Tsgabu Grmay |
| France | 4 | Julian Alaphilippe Romain Bardet Warren Barguil Alexis Vuillermoz |
| Germany | 4 | Emanuel Buchmann Simon Geschke Maximilian Levy Tony Martin |
| Great Britain | 5 | Chris Froome Steve Cummings Ian Stannard Geraint Thomas Adam Yates |
| Greece | 1 | Ioannis Tamouridis |
| Guatemala | 1 | Manuel Rodas |
| Hong Kong | 1 | Cheung King Lok |
| Iran | 3 | Ghader Mizbani Arvin Moazemi Samad Pourseyedi |
| Ireland | 2 | Dan Martin Nicolas Roche |
| Italy | 5 | Fabio Aru Vincenzo Nibali Damiano Caruso Alessandro De Marchi Diego Rosa |
| NOC | Number | Athletes |
| Japan | 2 | Yukiya Arashiro Kohei Uchima |
| Kazakhstan | 2 | Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev Andrey Zeits |
| Kosovo | 1 | Qëndrim Guri |
| Laos | 1 | Ariya Phounsavath |
| Latvia | 2 | Toms Skujiņš Aleksejs Saramotins |
| Lithuania | 2 | Ramūnas Navardauskas Ignatas Konovalovas |
| Luxembourg | 1 | Fränk Schleck |
| Morocco | 3 | Anass Aït El Abdia Soufiane Haddi Mouhssine Lahsaini |
| Mexico | 1 | Luis Lemus |
| Namibia | 1 | Dan Craven |
| Netherlands | 4 | Tom Dumoulin Steven Kruijswijk Bauke Mollema Wout Poels |
| New Zealand | 2 | George Bennett Zac Williams |
| Norway | 4 | Edvald Boasson Hagen Sven Erik Bystrøm Vegard Stake Laengen Lars Petter Nordhaug |
| Poland | 4 | Maciej Bodnar Michał Gołaś Michał Kwiatkowski Rafał Majka |
| Portugal | 4 | André Cardoso Rui Costa José Mendes Nelson Oliveira |
| Puerto Rico | 1 | Brian Babilonia |
| Romania | 1 | Serghei Țvetcov |
| Russia | 3 | Sergey Chernetskiy Alexey Kurbatov Pavel Kochetkov |
| Rwanda | 1 | Adrien Niyonshuti |
| Serbia | 1 | Ivan Stević |
| Slovakia | 1 | Patrik Tybor |
| Slovenia | 4 | Matej Mohorič Jan Polanc Primož Roglič Simon Špilak |
| South Africa | 2 | Daryl Impey Louis Meintjes |
| South Korea | 2 | Kim Ok-cheol Seo Joon-yong |
| Spain | 5 | Jonathan Castroviejo Imanol Erviti Ion Izagirre Joaquim Rodríguez Alejandro Valverde |
| Switzerland | 4 | Michael Albasini Fabian Cancellara Steve Morabito Sébastien Reichenbach |
| Tunisia | 1 | Ali Nouisri |
| Turkey | 2 | Ahmet Örken Onur Balkan |
| Ukraine | 3 | Andriy Hrivko Denys Kostyuk Andriy Khripta |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | Yousif Mirza |
| United States | 2 | Brent Bookwalter Taylor Phinney |
| Venezuela | 2 | Miguel Ubeto Jonathan Monsalve |

## Results

In the table below, "s.t." indicates that the rider crossed the finish line in the same group as the cyclist before him, and was therefore credited with the same finishing time.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time |
| | Greg Van Avermaet | Belgium | 6h 10' 05" |
| | Jakob Fuglsang | Denmark | s.t. |
| | Rafał Majka | Poland | + 5" |
| 4 | Julian Alaphilippe | France | + 22" |
| 5 | Joaquim Rodríguez | Spain | s.t. |
| 6 | Fabio Aru | Italy | s.t. |
| 7 | Louis Meintjes | South Africa | s.t. |
| 8 | Andrey Zeits | Kazakhstan | + 25" |
| 9 | Tanel Kangert | Estonia | + 1' 47" |
| 10 | Rui Costa | Portugal | + 2' 29" |
| 11 | Geraint Thomas | Great Britain | s.t. |
| 12 | Chris Froome | Great Britain | + 2' 58" |
| 13 | Dan Martin | Ireland | s.t. |
| 14 | Emanuel Buchmann | Germany | s.t. |
| 15 | Adam Yates | Great Britain | + 3' 03" |
| 16 | Brent Bookwalter | United States | + 3' 31" |
| 17 | Bauke Mollema | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 18 | Kristijan Đurasek | Croatia | s.t. |
| 19 | Sébastien Reichenbach | Switzerland | s.t. |
| 20 | Fränk Schleck | Luxembourg | s.t. |
| 21 | Esteban Chaves | Colombia | + 3' 34" |
| 22 | Serge Pauwels | Belgium | + 6' 12" |
| 23 | Alexis Vuillermoz | France | s.t. |
| 24 | Romain Bardet | France | s.t. |
| 25 | Simon Clarke | Australia | s.t. |
| 26 | Primož Roglič | Slovenia | + 9' 38" |
| 27 | Yukiya Arashiro | Japan | s.t. |
| 28 | Daryl Impey | South Africa | s.t. |
| 29 | Nicolas Roche | Ireland | s.t. |
| 30 | Alejandro Valverde | Spain | s.t. |
| 31 | Sergey Chernetskiy | Russia | s.t. |
| 32 | Christopher Juul-Jensen | Denmark | s.t. |
| 33 | George Bennett | New Zealand | + 11' 49" |
| 34 | Fabian Cancellara | Switzerland | s.t. |
| 35 | Ramūnas Navardauskas | Lithuania | + 12' 18" |
| 36 | André Cardoso | Portugal | s.t. |
| 37 | Eduardo Sepúlveda | Argentina | s.t. |
| 38 | Pavel Kochetkov | Russia | s.t. |
| 39 | Steven Kruijswijk | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 40 | Damiano Caruso | Italy | s.t. |
| 41 | Andriy Hrivko | Ukraine | + 13' 18" |
| 42 | Philippe Gilbert | Belgium | s.t. |
| 43 | Daniel Teklehaimanot | Eritrea | + 19' 20" |
| 44 | Georg Preidler | Austria | + 19' 37" |
| 45 | Patrik Tybor | Slovakia | + 20' 00" |
| 46 | Aleksejs Saramotins | Latvia | s.t. |
| 47 | Anass Aït El Abdia | Morocco | s.t. |
| 48 | Lars Petter Nordhaug | Norway | s.t. |
| 49 | Kanstantsin Sivtsov | Belarus | s.t. |
| 50 | Vegard Stake Laengen | Norway | s.t. |
| 51 | Ioannis Tamouridis | Greece | s.t. |
| 52 | Jan Polanc | Slovenia | s.t. |
| 53 | José Mendes | Portugal | s.t. |
| 54 | Andrey Amador | Costa Rica | s.t. |
| 55 | Michael Woods | Canada | s.t. |
| 56 | Michał Gołaś | Poland | s.t. |
| 57 | Simon Špilak | Slovenia | s.t. |
| 58 | Petr Vakoč | Czech Republic | s.t. |
| 59 | Toms Skujiņš | Latvia | s.t. |
| 60 | Chris Anker Sørensen | Denmark | s.t. |
| 61 | Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev | Kazakhstan | s.t. |
| 62 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Poland | s.t. |
| 63 | Alessandro De Marchi | Italy | + 20' 05" |
| — | Murilo Fischer | Brazil | + 31' 47" |
| — | Ignatas Konovalovas | Lithuania | s.t. |
| — | Jonathan Castroviejo | Spain | DNF |
| — | Imanol Erviti | Spain | DNF |
| — | Ion Izagirre | Spain | DNF |
| — | Sergio Henao | Colombia | DNF |
| — | Miguel Ángel López | Colombia | DNF |
| — | Jarlinson Pantano | Colombia | DNF |
| — | Rigoberto Urán | Colombia | DNF |
| — | Warren Barguil | France | DNF |
| — | Steve Cummings | Great Britain | DNF |
| — | Ian Stannard | Great Britain | DNF |
| — | Rohan Dennis | Australia | DNF |
| — | Scott Bowden | Australia | DNF |
| — | Richie Porte | Australia | DNF |
| — | Laurens De Plus | Belgium | DNF |
| — | Tim Wellens | Belgium | DNF |
| — | Tom Dumoulin | Netherlands | DNF |
| — | Wout Poels | Netherlands | DNF |
| — | Vincenzo Nibali | Italy | DNF |
| — | Diego Rosa | Italy | DNF |
| — | Michael Albasini | Switzerland | DNF |
| — | Steve Morabito | Switzerland | DNF |
| — | Simon Geschke | Germany | DNF |
| — | Maximilian Levy | Germany | DNF |
| — | Tony Martin | Germany | DNF |
| — | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Norway | DNF |
| — | Sven Erik Bystrøm | Norway | DNF |
| — | Maciej Bodnar | Poland | DNF |
| — | Jan Bárta | Czech Republic | DNF |
| — | Leopold König | Czech Republic | DNF |
| — | Zdeněk Štybar | Czech Republic | DNF |
| — | Denys Kostyuk | Ukraine | DNF |
| — | Andriy Khripta | Ukraine | DNF |
| — | Matej Mohorič | Slovenia | DNF |
| — | Ghader Mizbani | Iran | DNF |
| — | Arvin Moazzami | Iran | DNF |
| — | Samad Pourseyedi | Iran | DNF |
| — | Nelson Oliveira | Portugal | DNF |
| — | Abderrahmane Mansouri | Algeria | DNF |
| — | Youcef Reguigui | Algeria | DNF |
| — | Stefan Denifl | Austria | DNF |
| — | Soufiane Haddi | Morocco | DNF |
| — | Mouhssine Lahsaini | Morocco | DNF |
| — | Taylor Phinney | United States | DNF |
| — | Rein Taaramäe | Estonia | DNF |
| — | Zac Williams | New Zealand | DNF |
| — | Antoine Duchesne | Canada | DNF |
| — | Hugo Houle | Canada | DNF |
| — | Vasil Kiryienka | Belarus | DNF |
| — | Kohei Uchima | Japan | DNF |
| — | Kim Ok-cheol | South Korea | DNF |
| — | Seo Joon-yong | South Korea | DNF |
| — | Jonathan Monsalve | Venezuela | DNF |
| — | Miguel Ubeto | Venezuela | DNF |
| — | Matija Kvasina | Croatia | DNF |
| — | Daniel Díaz | Argentina | DNF |
| — | Maximiliano Richeze | Argentina | DNF |
| — | Cheung King Lok | Hong Kong | DNF |
| — | José Luis Rodríguez Aguilar | Chile | DNF |
| — | Adrien Niyonshuti | Rwanda | DNF |
| — | Maksym Averin | Azerbaijan | DNF |
| — | Serghei Țvetcov | Romania | DNF |
| — | Luis Lemus | Mexico | DNF |
| — | Onur Balkan | Turkey | DNF |
| — | Ahmet Örken | Turkey | DNF |
| — | Kléber Ramos | Brazil | DNF |
| — | Ali Nouisri | Tunisia | DNF |
| — | Stefan Hristov | Bulgaria | DNF |
| — | Manuel Rodas | Guatemala | DNF |
| — | Byron Guamá | Ecuador | DNF |
| — | Ivan Stević | Serbia | DNF |
| — | Tsgabu Grmay | Ethiopia | DNF |
| — | Diego Milán | Dominican Republic | DNF |
| — | Dan Craven | Namibia | DNF |
| — | Óscar Soliz | Bolivia | DNF |
| — | Qëndrim Guri | Kosovo | DNF |
| — | Brian Babilonia | Puerto Rico | DNF |
| — | Yousif Mirza | United Arab Emirates | DNF |
| — | Ariya Phounsavath | Laos | DNF |
| — | Alexey Kurbatov | Russia | DNF |