Cycling: Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium) took the gold medal in Rio! After more than 240 km he prevailed in the sprint of a group of three in front of Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) and Rafal Majka (Poland). Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) and Sergio Henao (Colombia) initially looked like the most promising medal contenders with Majka before a fall knocked them off their bikes.
Tony Martin and Maximilian Levy get off early
Due to the time difference between Rio and Germany, the 143 participants from 63 nations did not start their Olympic adventure until Saturday afternoon at 14:30 p.m. local time. They were supposed to reach their destination late in the evening, after 20 p.m., but there were around 240 very difficult kilometers in between. Like in the Street race preview As already suspected, track specialist Maximilian Levy and time trial specialist Tony Martin started today, but they didn't want to finish the race. Levy got off his bike after about 30 kilometers, Martin was able to break the 100 kilometer mark. From a German point of view, someone else won the race: Simon Geschke was in the top group of the day. Along with Jarlison Pantano (Colombia), Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland), Pavel Kochetkov (Russia) and Sven Erik Bystrom (Norway), he broke away fairly early in the race. They all speculated on a highly tactical race, characterized by disagreements between the national teams and, above all, within the respective teams. The Italians and Spaniards, however, were undeterred and quickly began to take charge and control the pace of the field. The leading group got away for more than eight minutes, but realistically they didn't want to get a taste of the medals.
The group without a chance is placed far before the finish line
After the group had pulled out at the front and was able to secure a reasonable lead for the time being, the hustle and bustle in the field of riders decreased somewhat. Probably also because the first no-names had already fallen out. However, things didn't really calm down, as the short cobblestone passages caused the field to be torn up several times. For a short time, the entire four-man Czech team even pushed the pace to bring about a first selection for Zdenek Stybar. But the plan didn't work out, even though Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) and Alejandro Valverde (Spain) could be seen at the back of the field for a moment. When we climbed the Vista Chinesa climb for the first time, the group thinned out more and more around the favorites. The Spaniards controlled the pace, while Wout Poels (Netherlands) surprisingly couldn't keep up. Kwiatkowski then also got down to business at the front of the leading group, much to the chagrin of Simon Geschke. The Pole has previously won the World Championship as a solo attacker and competed today to salvage his botched season. He distanced himself from his competitors, but was then caught a little later by a chasing group. Geraint Thomas (Great Britain), Andrey Zeits (Kazakhstan), Greg van Avermaet (Belgium), Sergio Henao (Colombia) and Damiano Caruso (Italy) caught up, but all had a lead of only around 30 seconds on the peloton. An interesting constellation occurred there due to the racing situation: Since the British, the Colombians and the Italians each had a driver at the front of the group, the Spaniards were now doomed to work on the pace alone.
Italian major attack down the Vista Chinasa
On the second descent down the Vista Chinesa, however, the Italians launched a major attack, although they had someone up front in Caruso. The Italian duo Fabio Aru and Vincenzo Nibali joined Rafal Majka (Poland), Adam Yates (Great Britain) and Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) to join the top. When it went up the Vista Chinesa for the last time, all the groups crumbled. Nibali attacked several times and distanced one after the other. Kwiatkowski was finally lost, as were Yates and Caruso. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain) and Louis Meintjes (South Africa) attacked from the peloton and were actually able to catch up again. Chris Froome (Great Britain) also attacked. Neither Romain Bardet (France) nor Bauke Mollema (Netherlands) could follow his attack. Only Julian Alaphilippe (France) initially fought his way back to his rear wheel and a little later even left him somewhere far away from the television cameras. The Frenchman also joined the leading group but Froome seemed to cave in and eventually give up the endeavour.
Nibali, the Tragic Hero - Van Avermaet benefits
Meanwhile, Nibali attacked again and this time he was actually able to break away with Majka and Henao. But on the dangerous descent, the Italian and the Colombian both fell and all medal hopes vanished. Thomas was also on the ground. As a result, Majka was suddenly in the lead as a soloist. A group of pursuers formed behind him, in which Aru was the only Italian left. The tactics began and things got too much for Greg Van Avermaet and Jakob Fuglsang. The two went in pursuit of Majka, caught up with him and so the three front runners were able to decide the medal ranks among themselves. As expected, Belgian Greg Van Avermat prevailed. Fuglsang took silver and Majka bronze. With this, Van Avermaet was able to add even more gold to what was already a yellow year. Emanuel Buchmann finished in a respectable 14th place - at the same time as tour winner Chris Froome.