The men's individual road race at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, was held on Sunday July 29, 1984. There were 135 participants from 43 nations in the race over 190.20 km, on a course in

Mission Viejo, California Mission Viejo ( ; language change, corruption of ; ) is a Commuter town, commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest Planned community, master-planned commu ...

. The maximum number of cyclists per nation was four. 55 cyclists finished. The event was won by

Alexi Grewal Alexi Singh Grewal (born September 8, 1960) is an American Olympic gold medalist and former professional road racing cyclist. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Grewal became the first American man to win an Olympic gold medal in road ...

of the United States, the nation's first medal in the men's individual road race. All three nations represented on the podium were there for the first time in the event; Canada with

Steve Bauer Steven Todd Bauer, MSM (born June 12, 1959) is a retired professional road bicycle racer from Canada. He won the first Olympic medal in road cycling for Canada and until 2022 he was the only Canadian to win an individual stage of the Tour de Fr ...

's silver and Norway with

Dag Otto Lauritzen Dag Otto Lauritzen (born 13 September 1956) is a Norwegian television personality and retired professional cyclist. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles he won a bronze medal in the individual road race. He was the first Norwegian to win ...

's bronze joined the Americans.

Background

This was the 12th 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 late 1970s and early 1980s had seen a shift in power in the sport from Western Europe to the world's superpowers, with Eastern Europe (particularly Poland) more generally also rising. With the Soviet-led boycott, the host Americans were favored.

Davis Phinney Davis Phinney (born July 10, 1959) is a retired professional road bicycle racer from the United States. He won 328 races in the 1980s and 1990s, a record for an American, including two Tour de France stages. He has worked in media since retiring ...

was considered "the best sprinter on the US team" but "not a great climber"; the hilly course did not favor him.

nearly missed being able to compete, testing positive for the stimulant phenylethylamine and being suspended 10 days before the Games; he successfully appealed and was reinstated, on the ground that the test was not able to distinguish between phenylethylamine and albuterol (which Grewal took for asthma). Bermuda, Belize, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, and Uganda each made their debut in the men's individual road race. Great Britain made its 12th appearance in the event, the only nation to have competed in each appearance to date.

Competition format and course

The mass-start race was on a 190.2 kilometre course over 12 laps of a circuit in Mission Viejo. The course was hilly.Official Report, vol. 2, p. 379.

Schedule

All times are

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( UTC-7)

Results

Grewal and Bauer separated from the lead pack on lap 11. They "never had a large lead" over the next pair, Lauritzen and Sæther, but were always clear of them. Grewal beat Bauer in the final sprint by "less than a wheel."

References

External links

Official Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cycling At The 1984 Summer Olympics - Men's Individual Road Race Road cycling at the 1984 Summer Olympics Cycling at the Summer Olympics – Men's road race Men's events at the 1984 Summer Olympics