On day nine of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, 90 athletes from around the world lined up to complete the 273 kilometer Men’s Road Race. Brandon McNulty (Phoenix; UAE Team Emirates), Magnus Sheffield (Pittsford, N.Y.; Ineos Grenadiers), and Matteo Jorgenson (Boise, Idaho; Team Visma – Lease a Bike) were all selected to race for Team USA.
Today’s road race began in Trocadéro and traveled through a large portion of Paris, with most of the 2,800 meters of ascent occurring towards the tail end of the loop. At the beginning of the race, a small group of five riders sat several minutes ahead of the peloton for over 100 kilometers (about 62 miles), with several chase groups forming behind them. As the day passed, the gap between the main peloton and the front group kept shrinking. The five original riders who created the breakaway were overtaken by a small group of riders who managed to escape the peloton. With 82 kilometers to go, the race leaders were Elia Viviani (ITA) and Ryan Mullen (IRL).
After a big attack by France on the first steep climb of the day, the gap between the leaders and the chase group was less than two minutes. Mullen’s teammate, Ben Healy (IRL), launched an attack to go up the road to assist Mullen and brought Kazakhstan’s Alexey Lutsenko with him.
A group of seven finally decided it was time to reel the two race leaders in. The peloton started getting antsy, Mathieu van der Poel (NED) and Wout van Aert (BEL) launched a big attack up the cobbles, and the American rider, Jorgenson was right there with them. This second chase group was a mere 30 seconds behind, but with powerhouses like France’s Julian Alaphilippe and race favorites Van der Poel and Van Aert in the group, chasing down Healy was still possible. This group of chasers was caught, and Remco Evenpoel launched a counterattack. He soloed up to the chase group.
At 33 kilometers to go, Healy was caught by the chase with Evenpoel at the helm. Van der Poel and Van Aert hit the gas shortly after but refused to work together. At the front of the race, Evenpoel dropped Valentin Madouas (FRA), leaving him in no man’s land. Jorgenson was not far behind chasing him down with six other riders.
With under four kilometers to go, Evenpoel threw his hand in the air realizing he flatted, with still over a minute gap. After a hectic bike change, he soloed across the line to earn gold, a week after winning the Men’s Olympic Time Trial. Madouas held off the chase group to earn silver, and in a sprint finish, Jorgenson battled against six others for a chance at bronze. Ultimately, he earned ninth place overall, a result to be proud of.
After the race, Jorgenson said, “I had a really good fight. I put myself into position to win the race, but in the end, I got tactically outplayed. There were teams like France, Belgium, and the Netherlands with more numbers and I was in the right moves, but I think none of us worked well together. In the end, I used up a lot of energy in places where it was not necessary then I got attacked at the top.” He continued, “The course was hard, but I enjoyed it a lot. I think they did a good job on the route finding every little climb around Paris… I enjoyed the day.”
His teammates, McNulty and Sheffield earned 24th and 42nd, respectively, after going into today’s road race ready and eager to work for Jorgenson. “He has been super good all year, so we were all going for him,” said McNulty.
1. Remco Evenpoel (BEL)
2. Valentin Madouas (FRA)
3. Christophe Laporte (FRA)
9. Matteo Jorgenson (USA)
24. Brandon McNulty (USA)
42. Magnus Sheffield (USA)
The trio has set the stage for the women, who will be taking on the road race tomorrow afternoon. The team representing the United States will include Chloé Dygert (Brownsburg, Ind.; CANYON//SRAM Racing) and Kristen Faulkner (Homer, Alaska; EF-Oatly-Cannondale).
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