Greg Van Avermaet sprints to gold in men's road race at Rio Olympics
RIO DE JANEIRO – A series of brutal crashes on the final descent shook up the leader board of the Rio Olympics men’s cycling road race, giving way to a stunning three-man sprint which was won by Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium.
Van Avermaet looked out of the running with 10 miles remaining in the race, but after multiple wrecks, he was able to overcome a flagging Rafal Majka of Poland to claim gold. Van Avermaet’s teammates were jubilant at the finish line, with one appearing to break down in tears at the win.
Majka looked like he would cruise to a win after pulling ahead to a 20-second lead with just a few miles remaining. But with every 100 yards closer to the finish, Majka looked more and more in pain, appearing to cramp up after the brutal six-hour race. That gave just enough of an opening for Van Avermaet and Jakob Fuglsang of Denmark, who were working together in the final stages, to reach him with just more than a kilometer remaining. Van Avermaet, an accomplished sprinter, easily got the best his two competitors.
Majka finished in third, with Fuglsang taking the silver. After the race, Majka shrugged his shoulders to the crowd, who warmly applauded his effort.
The 31-year-old Van Avermaet has previously won two individual stages of the Tour de France, including on victory in this year's event where he held the leader's yellow jersey for three days. This is his first Olympic medal.
The final sprint of the 157-mile race looked to be coming down to a three-way battle between Majka, Vincenzo Nibali of Italy and Sergio Henao of Colombia. The group had broken away on the final climb and led the chase group by about 15 seconds. Nibali, known for his skills at speedy descent, appeared to push the pace too much and wrecked with less than 10 miles remaining. His crash affected Henao, who ended up on the side of the road with him.
Moments later, Great Britain’s Geraint Thomas wrecked in an unrelated accident, also apparently due to his inability to handle the extreme speeds in the final descent of the race. He eventually finished 11th. His teammate Chris Froome, who won his third Tour de France two weeks ago, was 12th.
Brent Bookwalter was the highest finishing American in 16th.
Earlier in the day, the finish line at Copacabana Beach was rocked by the sound of a large bang – an official told the AP it was a controlled explosion, and that no one was injured in the incident.
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