Olympics: Remco Evenepoel takes gold, Wout van Aert bronze in road race time trial
Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert have won Belgium’s first medals at the Paris Olympics, taking gold and bronze in the men’s road cycling time trial.
World champion Evenepoel led from the start on a rainy course on Saturday and finished 15 seconds ahead of Italian Filippo Ganna in second and 25 seconds ahead of Van Aert in third. Promising British rider Josh Tarling finished fourth after his bike suffered a mechanical problem.
Evenepoel adds the Olympic title to his already impressive list of achievements. The 24-year-old is the reigning world time trial champion. He has been road world champion (2022), European time trial champion (2019), Belgian road champion (2023) and Belgian time trial champion (2022), won the Tour of Spain (2022) and finished third in the recent Tour de France.
Van Aert’s season was disrupted by injury following a serious crash in the Dwaars door Vlaanderen event in the spring.
Earlier in the day, Belgian teammate Lotte Kopecky finished sixth in the women’s road time trial. She was one of several riders to fall due to wet conditions on the 32.4km course. The road racing continues on 3 and 4 August, followed by the track competitions.
Evenepoel and Van Aert are the second and third Belgian men in history to win Olympic medals in a time trial. The first was Henri Hoevenaers from Antwerp, 100 years ago, also in Paris.
Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert during the medal ceremony of the men's time trial cycling event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, 27 July 2024 © BELGA PHOTO JASPER JACOBS
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