# Cycling at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

The men's individual road race was a road bicycle racing event held as part of the Cycling at the 1964 Summer Olympics programme. It was held on 22 October 1964. The course, just short of 25 kilometres, was covered 8 times for a total distance of 194.832 kilometres. 132 cyclists from 35 nations competed. The maximum number of cyclists per nation was four. The event was won by Mario Zanin of Italy, the nation's second victory in the men's individual road race and third consecutive Games in the top two. Kjell Rodian earned Denmark's first medal in the event with his silver. Walter Godefroot's bronze was Belgium's fifth medal in five Games (with 2 in 1952 making up for missing the podium in 1956).

## Background

This was the seventh 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). Eddy Merckx of Belgium was the reigning world champion and the only one of the last four world champions to compete (the other three had all turned professional).
The Republic of China, Hong Kong, Iran, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Thailand each made their debut in the men's individual road race. Great Britain made its seventh 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 course that covered eight laps of a 24.354 kilometres circuit starting at the Takao train station, for a total of 194.832 kilometres. It was a "relatively easy course" that "featured a fairly steep, but short, climb of 65 metres at the 11th km., followed by a short descent, and then a mild climb over the next few kilometres." The course ran into Hachioji, across the Asakawa Bridge, to Sanyu Corner, then northwest to Tobuki Cross with a detour to Takatsuki Terminal, then back south to Takao station again. It was a shorter version of the team time trial course, which went out to the Hino Bridge before looping back to Sanyu Corner.

## Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Thursday, 22 October 1964 | 10:00 | Final |

## Results

Nobody was able to make a successful breakaway, with 99 riders closely bunched throughout the race. The best attempts all fell short with no effective tries in the last 15 kilometres. Merckx had a late effort with 1.5 kilometres left but never got more than 20 metres clear of the pack. Zanin and Rodian reached the front in the final sprint, though all 99 cyclists in the pack finished within two tenths of a second of Zanin. Precise order within the pack, particularly after 35th place, is disputed.
| Rank | Cyclist | Nation | Time |
| | Mario Zanin | Italy | 4:39:51.63 |
| | Kjell Rodian | Denmark | 4:39:51.65 |
| | Walter Godefroot | Belgium | 4:39:51.74 |
| 4 | Raymond Bilney | Australia | 4:39:51.74 |
| 5 | José Manuel López | Spain | 4:39:51.74 |
| 6 | Wilfried Peffgen | United Team of Germany | 4:39:51.74 |
| 7 | Gösta Pettersson | Sweden | 4:39:51.74 |
| 8 | Delmo Delmastro | Argentina | 4:39:51.74 |
| 9 | Roberto Breppe | Argentina | 4:39:51.74 |
| 10 | Laurie Byers | New Zealand | 4:39:51.74 |
| 11 | Erik Pettersson | Sweden | 4:39:51.74 |
| 12 | Eddy Merckx | Belgium | 4:39:51.74 |
| 13 | Jan Kudra | Poland | 4:39:51.74 |
| 14 | Michael Hollingsworth | Australia | 4:39:51.74 |
| 15 | Ole Højlund Pedersen | Denmark | 4:39:51.74 |
| 16 | Hans Lüthi | Switzerland | 4:39:51.74 |
| 17 | Dick Johnstone | New Zealand | 4:39:51.74 |
| 18 | Roger Swerts | Belgium | 4:39:51.74 |
| 19 | Johny Schleck | Luxembourg | 4:39:51.74 |
| 20 | Bart Zoet | Netherlands | 4:39:51.74 |
| 21 | Flemming Hansen | Denmark | 4:39:51.74 |
| 22 | Daniel Gráč | Czechoslovakia | 4:39:51.74 |
| 23 | José Manuel Lasa | Spain | 4:39:51.74 |
| 24 | János Juszkó | Hungary | 4:39:51.74 |
| 25 | Colin Lewis | Great Britain | 4:39:51.74 |
| 26 | Terence West | Great Britain | 4:39:51.74 |
| 27 | Gerben Karstens | Netherlands | 4:39:51.74 |
| 28 | Severino Andreoli | Italy | 4:39:51.74 |
| 29 | Burkhard Ebert | United Team of Germany | 4:39:51.75 |
| 30 | Erwin Jaisli | Switzerland | 4:39:51.75 |
| 31 | Derek Harrison | Great Britain | 4:39:51.75 |
| 32 | Mariano Díaz | Spain | 4:39:51.75 |
| 33 | Felice Gimondi | Italy | 4:39:51.76 |
| 34 | Jorge Mariné | Spain | 4:39:51.76 |
| 35 | András Mészáros | Hungary | 4:39:51.76 |
| 36 | Chow Kwong Man | Hong Kong | 4:39:51.76 |
| 37 | Masashi Omiya | Japan | 4:39:51.76 |
| 38 | Jozef Boons | Belgium | 4:39:51.76 |
| 39 | Louis Pfenninger | Switzerland | 4:39:51.76 |
| 40 | Harry Steevens | Netherlands | 4:39:51.76 |
| 41 | Gainan Saidkhuzhin | Soviet Union | 4:39:51.77 |
| 42 | Jan Pieterse | Netherlands | 4:39:51.77 |
| 43 | Yanjingiin Baatar | Mongolia | 4:39:51.77 |
| 44 | Jan Magiera | Poland | 4:39:51.77 |
| 45 | Ricardo Vázquez | Uruguay | 4:39:51.78 |
| 46 | Martín Rodríguez | Colombia | 4:39:51.78 |
| 47 | Antal Megyerdi | Hungary | 4:39:51.78 |
| 48 | Francisco Pérez | Uruguay | 4:39:51.78 |
| 49 | Rubén Placanica | Argentina | 4:39:51.79 |
| 50 | Sven Hamrin | Sweden | 4:39:51.79 |
| 51 | Michael Cowley | Great Britain | 4:39:51.79 |
| 52 | Sture Pettersson | Sweden | 4:39:51.79 |
| 53 | Francis Bazire | France | 4:39:51.80 |
| 54 | Immo Rittmeyer | United Team of Germany | 4:39:51.80 |
| 55 | Pablo Hernández | Colombia | 4:39:51.80 |
| 56 | Anatoly Olizarenko | Soviet Union | 4:39:51.80 |
| 57 | Gabriel Moiceanu | Romania | 4:39:51.80 |
| 58 | Constantin Ciocan | Romania | 4:39:51.81 |
| 59 | Ion Cosma | Romania | 4:39:51.81 |
| 60 | Yury Melikhov | Soviet Union | 4:39:51.81 |
| 61 | Des Thomson | New Zealand | 4:39:51.81 |
| 62 | Aleksei Petrov | Soviet Union | 4:39:51.81 |
| 63 | Hans Heinemann | Switzerland | 4:39:51.82 |
| 64 | Vid Cencic | Uruguay | 4:39:51.82 |
| 65 | David Humphreys | Australia | 4:39:51.82 |
| 66 | Max Grace | New Zealand | 4:39:51.83 |
| 67 | Jiří Daler | Czechoslovakia | 4:39:51.83 |
| 68 | Malcolm McCredie | Australia | 4:39:51.83 |
| 69 | Rubén Darío Gómez | Colombia | 4:39:51.83 |
| 70 | František Řezáč | Czechoslovakia | 4:39:51.83 |
| 71 | Jan Smolík | Czechoslovakia | 4:39:51.83 |
| 72 | Stephen Lim | Malaysia | 4:39:51.83 |
| 73 | Arturo Romeo | Philippines | 4:39:51.83 |
| 74 | Ole Ritter | Denmark | 4:39:51.83 |
| 75 | John Allis | United States | 4:39:51.83 |
| 76 | Phạm Văn Sau | Vietnam | 4:39:51.83 |
| 77 | Andrzej Bławdzin | Poland | 4:39:51.83 |
| 78 | Günter Hoffmann | United Team of Germany | 4:39:51.83 |
| 79 | Mikael Saglimbeni | Ethiopia | 4:39:51.83 |
| 80 | Lucien Aimar | France | 4:39:51.83 |
| 81 | Mashallah Amin Sorour | Iran | 4:39:51.83 |
| 82 | Rajmund Zieliński | Poland | 4:39:51.83 |
| 83 | László Mahó | Hungary | 4:39:51.83 |
| 84 | Teófilo Toda | Peru | 4:39:51.83 |
| 85 | Luvsangiin Erkhemjamts | Mongolia | 4:39:51.83 |
| 86 | Her Jong-chau | Taiwan | 4:39:51.83 |
| 87 | Shue Ming-shu | Taiwan | 4:39:51.83 |
| 88 | Gheorghe Bădără | Romania | 4:39:51.83 |
| 89 | Tarwon Jirapan | Thailand | 4:39:51.83 |
| 90 | Trần Văn Nen | Vietnam | 4:39:51.83 |
| 91 | Pakdi Chillananda | Thailand | 4:39:51.83 |
| 92 | Chow Kwong Choi | Hong Kong | 4:39:51.83 |
| 93 | Melesio Soto | Mexico | 4:39:51.83 |
| 94 | Bernard Guyot | France | 4:39:51.83 |
| 95 | Christian Raymond | France | 4:39:51.83 |
| 96 | Edy Schütz | Luxembourg | 4:39:51.83 |
| 97 | Daniel Olivares | Philippines | 4:39:51.83 |
| 98 | Cornelio Padilla | Philippines | 4:39:51.83 |
| 99 | Sayed Esmail Hosseini | Iran | 4:39:51.83 |
| 100 | Michael Hiltner | United States | 4:59:54.00 |
| 101 | Akbar Poudeh | Iran | 4:59:59.00 |
| 102 | Wilde Baridón | Uruguay | 5:01:50.00 |
| 103 | Luvsangiin Buudai | Mongolia | 5:01:57.00 |
| 104 | Francisco Coronel | Mexico | 5:02:15.00 |
| 105 | Hiroshi Yamao | Japan | 5:10:40.00 |
| 106 | Toshiro Akamatsu | Japan | 5:27:10.00 |
| 107 | Lee Seon-bae | South Korea | 5:27:16 |
| — | An Byeong-hun | South Korea | DNF |
| — | Chainarong Sophonpong | Thailand | DNF |
| — | Davoud Akhlagi | Iran | DNF |
| — | Deng Chueng-hwai | Taiwan | DNF |
| — | Ferruccio Manza | Italy | DNF |
| — | Fisihasion Ghebreyesus | Ethiopia | DNF |
| — | Heriberto Díaz | Mexico | DNF |
| — | Hwang Chang-sik | South Korea | DNF |
| — | Raymond Castilloux | United States | DNF |
| — | Mario Escobar | Colombia | DNF |
| — | Michael Andrew | Malaysia | DNF |
| — | Norberto Arceo | Philippines | DNF |
| — | Choijiljavyn Samand | Mongolia | DNF |
| — | Suleman Ambaye | Ethiopia | DNF |
| — | Hamid Supaat | Malaysia | DNF |
| — | Thomas Montemage | United States | DNF |
| — | Vitool Charernratana | Thailand | DNF |
| — | Wi Gyeong-yong | South Korea | DNF |
| — | Yemane Negassi | Ethiopia | DNF |
| — | Zain Safar-ud-Din | Malaysia | DSQ |
| — | Nguyễn Văn Khoi | Vietnam | DSQ |
| — | Masanori Tsuji | Japan | DSQ |
| — | Moises López | Mexico | DSQ |
| — | Mok Sau Hei | Hong Kong | DSQ |
| — | Nguyễn Văn Ngan | Vietnam | DSQ |