The men's individual road race was an event at the 1980 Summer Olympics in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. 115 cyclists from 32 nations took part. The maximum number of cyclists per nation was four. The event was won by Sergei Sukhoruchenkov of the Soviet Union, the nation's second victory (after 1960; tying France for second-most behind Italy) in the men's individual road race. His teammate Yuri Barinov took bronze. Czesław Lang's silver put Poland on the podium in the event for the second straight Games.

Background

This was the 11th 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 (and which would be reintroduced alongside the road race in 1996). The traditional western powers (Italy, France, Belgium, Sweden) in the sport participated in the Moscow Games amid the American-led boycott. In previous years, the boycott would have had little effect on the competition, but in the late 1970s, the United States had its first international cycling star:

Greg LeMond Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former professional road racing cyclist, entrepreneur, and anti-doping advocate. A two-time winner of the Road Race World Championship (1983 and 1989) and a three-time winner of the Tou ...

(who would turn professional in 1981 and never compete in the Olympics) who would have been the favorite. Instead, host-nation cyclist Sergei Sukhoruchenkov was the pick to win. Gilbert Glaus of Switzerland (1978) and

Gianni Giacomini Gianni Giacomini (born 18 August 1958) is a retired Italian cyclist. In 1979 he won the amateur road race at the World Cycling Championships. Next year he competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics and finished in 5th and 18th place in the 100 km tim ...

(1979) had won world championships and were also significant contenders. Libya and Zimbabwe each made their debut in the men's individual road race. Great Britain made its 11th appearance in the event, the only nation to have competed in each appearance to date.

Competition format and course

Krylatskoye Sports Complex Cycling Circuit

The mass-start race was on a 189 kilometre course at the Krylatskoye Sports Complex in Moscow.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 211.

Schedule

All times are

Moscow Time Moscow Time (MSK, russian: моско́вское вре́мя) is the time zone for the city of Moscow, Russia, and most of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg. It is the second-westernmost of the eleven time zones of Russia. It has b ...

(

UTC+3 UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours later than the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, a time with this offset would be wri ...

)

Results

Sukhoruchenkov broke away on lap 3, with a chase group including Glaus and Giacomini catching him on lap 5. Sukhoruchenkov broke away from that pack with 32 kilometres to go, riding by himself the rest of the way to the largest margin of victory in the event since 1896.

References

External links

Official Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cycling at the 1980 Summer Olympics - Men's individual road race Road cycling at the 1980 Summer Olympics Cycling at the Summer Olympics – Men's road race