Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

The men's road race, one of the cycling events at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, took place on 28 July at 10 a.m. in central and southwest London and north Surrey,[2] starting and finishing on The Mall.[3]

Men's cycling road race
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Alexander Vinokourov leading the breakaway group in the men's road race, approximately 10 km from the finish line on The Mall.
VenueCentral and southwest London and north Surrey[1]
250 km (155.3 mi)
Date28 July 2012
Competitors144 from 63 nations
Winning time5:45:57
Medalists
Alexander Vinokourov  Kazakhstan
Rigoberto Urán  Colombia
Alexander Kristoff  Norway
Cycling at the
2012 Summer Olympics
List of cyclists
Road cycling
Road racemenwomen
Time trialmenwomen
Track cycling
Sprintmenwomen
Team sprintmenwomen
Keirinmenwomen
Team pursuitmenwomen
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Mountain biking
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BMX
BMXmenwomen
Qualification

This was the 19th 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

Samuel Sánchez of Spain would have been the defending champion, but due to an injury incurred at the 2012 Tour de France he could not compete.[4]

The race was won by Kazakhstan's Alexander Vinokourov. He sprinted clear of Colombia's Rigoberto Urán, who claimed the silver medal. Alexander Kristoff of Norway won the sprint from the following group to take bronze.[5] Vinokourov was the first man (and, through the 2016 Games, only; multiple women have done so) to win multiple medals in the event; he had previously taken silver in 2000.

Qualification
Main article: Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Qualification: Road

The top ten ranked countries in the final standings of the 2011 UCI World Tour qualified to have five riders to represent their respective country in the race. The nations with five-man squads were: Spain, Belgium, Italy, Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, United States and Switzerland; although Luxembourg placed ninth in the rankings, their roster was reduced to two men. Of the other nations on the World Tour, France and Denmark had four riders, Norway and Ireland three, Kazakhstan two and Slovakia, Costa Rica and Latvia one rider each. The top six countries on the UCI Europe Tour – Slovenia, Russia, Portugal, Poland, Turkey and Belarus – in addition to Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, the UCI America Tour top three, UCI Asia Tour leaders Iran and UCI Africa Tour leaders Morocco, had three riders. The remaining nations in the race were represented by either two or one rider. Eritrea, Georgia, and Syria competed in the eventfor the first time. There were a total of 144 participants.

Pre-race favourites

The Belfast Telegraph columnist The Punter considered the 2011 World Road Race champion, Mark Cavendish of Great Britain to be the favourite for the race,[6] although his chances were likely dependent on whether the race ended in a sprint finish.[7] Cavendish was expected to be greatly assisted by his four-man British team which he labelled his 'dream team' prior to the race and regarded by Bradley Wiggins as 'possibly the strongest fielded in an Olympic road race'.[8][9]

Tom Boonen of Belgium, Australia's Matthew Goss, André Greipel of Germany were also tipped as potential winners.[10] Other sprinters tipped for Medals included Tour de France points classification winner Peter Sagan of Slovakia and Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway – but both riders had perceived weaker teams than those of Great Britain, Belgium and Germany.[10] If the race was to have ended in a sprint finish, Sagan and Boonen were tipped for victory, along with other classic specialists such as Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, the silver medalist in 2008, and Philippe Gilbert of Belgium.

The defending champion, Samuel Sánchez of Spain, did not enter the race due to an injury suffered at the 2012 Tour de France.[4]

Course
Box Hill was climbed nine times in the race

The race was 250 km (155.3 mi) long and began with a mass start.[11][12] Crowds were bolstered by free entry for 150 km of the 250 km route,[13] recent British success in the 2012 Tour de France and the possibility of the host nation winning its first gold medal of the 2012 Olympics through Mark Cavendish. Originally 3,500 paid tickets were made available for the grandstand area on Box Hill where the cyclists would undertake nine laps, but due to demand this was increased to 15,000.[13]

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Saturday, 28 July 201210:00Final

Results
The peloton as it passed Putney in Southwest London early in the race, en route to Box Hill.
The race going through Teddington

The entry list was published on 23 July.[14]

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.

RankCyclistNationTime
Alexander Vinokourov Kazakhstan 5:45:57
Rigoberto Urán Colombia s.t.
Alexander Kristoff Norway 5:46:05
4 Taylor Phinney United States s.t.
5 Sergey Lagutin Uzbekistan s.t.
6 Stuart O'Grady Australia s.t.
7 Jürgen Roelandts Belgium s.t.
8 Grégory Rast Switzerland s.t.
9 Luca Paolini Italy s.t.
10 Jack Bauer New Zealand s.t.
11 Lars Boom Netherlands s.t.
12 Jakob Fuglsang Denmark s.t.
13 Rui Costa Portugal s.t.
14 Luis León Sánchez Spain s.t.
15 Roman Kreuziger Czech Republic s.t.
16 Sergio Henao Colombia s.t.
17 Andriy Hryvko Ukraine s.t.
18 Alejandro Valverde Spain s.t.
19 Philippe Gilbert Belgium s.t.
20 Sylvain Chavanel France s.t.
21 Janez Brajkovič Slovenia s.t.
22 Fumiyuki Beppu Japan s.t.
23 Robert Gesink Netherlands s.t.
24 Alexandr Kolobnev Russia s.t.
25 Lars Petter Nordhaug Norway s.t.
26 Jonathan Castroviejo Spain 5:46:13
27 André Greipel Germany 5:46:37
28 Tom Boonen Belgium s.t.
29 Mark Cavendish Great Britain s.t.
30 Arnaud Démare France s.t.
31 Francisco Ventoso Spain s.t.
32 Murilo Fischer Brazil s.t.
33 Tyler Farrar United States s.t.
34 Peter Sagan Slovakia s.t.
35 Andrey Amador Costa Rica s.t.
36 Bernhard Eisel Austria s.t.
37 Wong Kam-po Hong Kong s.t.
38 Elia Viviani Italy s.t.
39 Héctor Rangel Mexico s.t.
40 Daryl Impey South Africa s.t.
41 Radoslav Rogina Croatia s.t.
42 Matti Breschel Denmark s.t.
43 Assan Bazayev Kazakhstan s.t.
44 José Joaquín Rojas Spain s.t.
45 Miguel Ubeto Venezuela s.t.
46 Borut Božič Slovenia s.t.
47 Ramūnas Navardauskas Lithuania s.t.
48 Yukiya Arashiro Japan s.t.
49 Manuel Antonio Cardoso Portugal s.t.
50 Rene Mandri Estonia s.t.
51 Jackson Rodríguez Venezuela s.t.
52 Vladimir Isaichev Russia s.t.
53 Yauheni Hutarovich Belarus s.t.
54 Ivan Stević Serbia s.t.
55 David McCann Ireland s.t.
56 Aleksejs Saramotins Latvia s.t.
57 Martin Elmiger Switzerland s.t.
Nicki Sørensen Denmark s.t.
59 Gediminas Bagdonas Lithuania s.t.
60 Michał Kwiatkowski Poland s.t.
61 Danail Petrov Bulgaria s.t.
62 Adil Jelloul Morocco s.t.
63 Ryder Hesjedal Canada s.t.
64 Laurent Didier Luxembourg s.t.
65 Jussi Veikkanen Finland s.t.
66 Dmytro Krivtsov Ukraine s.t.
67 Arnold Alcolea Cuba s.t.
68 Kristijan Đurasek Croatia s.t.
69 Nelson Oliveira Portugal s.t.
70 Tomás Gil Venezuela s.t.
71 Lars Bak Denmark s.t.
72 Gonzalo Garrido Chile s.t.
73 Daniel Teklehaymanot Eritrea s.t.
74 Sebastian Langeveld Netherlands s.t.
75 Jan Bárta Czech Republic s.t.
76 Gustav Larsson Sweden s.t.
77 Vegard Laengen Norway s.t.
78 Branislau Samoilau Belarus s.t.
79 Grega Bole Slovenia s.t.
80 Cadel Evans Australia s.t.
81 Daniel Schorn Austria s.t.
82 Niki Terpstra Netherlands s.t.
83 Simon Gerrans Australia s.t.
84 Maciej Bodnar Poland s.t.
85 Matthew Goss Australia s.t.
86 Tony Gallopin France s.t.
87 Michael Schär Switzerland s.t.
88 Timmy Duggan United States s.t.
89 Nicolas Roche Ireland s.t.
90 Dan Martin Ireland s.t.
91 Michael Rogers Australia s.t.
92 Greg Van Avermaet Belgium s.t.
93 Chris Horner United States 5:46:46
94 Ian Stannard Great Britain 5:46:47
95 Bert Grabsch Germany s.t.
96 Michael Albasini Switzerland s.t.
97 Lieuwe Westra Netherlands s.t.
98 Denis Menchov Russia 5:46:51
99 Sacha Modolo Italy s.t.
100 Stijn Vandenbergh Belgium s.t.
101 Vincenzo Nibali Italy 5:46:53
102 Marcel Sieberg Germany 5:47:08
103 Bradley Wiggins Great Britain 5:47:14
104 Tejay van Garderen United States 5:47:31
105 John Degenkolb Germany 5:48:49
106 Fabian Cancellara Switzerland 5:51:40
107 Marco Pinotti Italy 5:54:04
108 David Millar Great Britain 5:55:16
109 Chris Froome Great Britain 5:58:24
110 Ioannis Tamouridis Greece s.t.
— Maximiliano Richeze Argentina OTL
Byron Guama Ecuador OTL
Mehdi Sohrabi Iran OTL
Gabor Kasa Serbia OTL
Ahmet Akdilek Turkey OTL
— Gregory Panizo Brazil DNF
Edvald Boasson Hagen Norway DNF
Azzedine Lagab Algeria DNF
Spas Gyurov Bulgaria DNF
Muhamad Othman Malaysia DNF
Miraç Kal Turkey DNF
Kemal Küçükbay Turkey DNF
Muradjan Halmuratov Uzbekistan DNF
Magno Nazaret Brazil DNF
Tony Martin Germany DNF
Krisztián Lovassy Hungary DNF
Amir Rusli Malaysia DNF
Oleg Berdos Moldova DNF
Michał Gołaś Poland DNF
Andrei Nechita Romania DNF
Vasil Kiryienka Belarus DNF
Alireza Haghi Iran DNF
Greg Henderson New Zealand DNF
Giorgi Nadiradze Georgia DNF
Park Sung-Baek South Korea DNF
Soufiane Haddi Morocco DNF
Manuel Rodas Guatemala DNF
Dan Craven Namibia DNF
Mouhssine Lahsaini Morocco DNF
Omar Hasanin Syria DNF
Jorge Soto Uruguay DNF
Fabio Duarte Colombia DNF
Mickaël Bourgain France DNF
Amir Zargari Iran DNF
Over time limit (OTL)
Under UCI regulations for one-day road races (article 2.3.039), "Any rider finishing in a time exceeding that of the winner by more than 5% shall not be placed".[15] Applying this to the winning time of Alexander Vinokourov resulted in a time limit of 6 hours, 3 minutes and 14 seconds.

References
  1. "Olympic road race route officially revealed". Cycling Weekly. 10 February 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2012. This extends the Games into the South West of London and Surrey
  2. "Olympic sport competition schedule". London 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  3. "The Mall | Venues". London 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  4. Elkington, Mark (19 July 2012). "Road race champion Sanchez out of Games". Reuters. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  5. "Vinokurov claims Road Race gold". London 2012. 28 July 2012.
  6. "The Punter: Gold opportunity for Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish". Belfast Telegraph. 26 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  7. Richard Williams (22 July 2012). "Tour de France 2012: Mark Cavendish wins fourth Champs Elysées sprint". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  8. "London 2012: Mark Cavendish hails the GB 'dream team'". BBC Sport. 26 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  9. Gallagher, Brendan (26 July 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Mark Cavendish and his dream team leave their strategy for Olympic road race in no doubt". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  10. Fotheringham, William (27 July 2012). "Mark Cavendish: Thinking outside the box for Team GB at London 2012". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  11. "Olympic Cycling – Road – Information, History, Rules". London 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  12. "Road Race format competition". London 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  13. "More spectators will enjoy best views of Olympic Cycling Road Race". 25 January 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  14. "London 2012 Olympic Games: Men's road race start list". cyclingweekly.co.uk. 23 July 2012. Archived from the original on 6 August 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  15. UCI Cycling Regulations, Part II: Road Races, UCI, 1 February 2012, p. 31
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