Evenepoel and Brown Grab Top Honors in Paris

Olympic Cycling Men’s and Women’s Individual Time Trial – Paris, France

Photo: John Sachs/Tech-Fall

2024 Olympic Games Road Cycling Individual Time Trials took place on the wet and slick streets of Paris on July 27th.

The weather could not dampen the spirits of the fans lining the 32.4 km/20.1 mile course.

Belgian super star Remco Evenepoel was able to navigate the weather and a strong field of cyclists to earn an Olympic Gold Medal with a time of 36:12.2. Italy’s Filippo Ganna took Silver crossing the line at 36:27.1, while a second Belgium, Wout van Aert, earned Bronze with a time of 36:37.8.

As the current world champion, Remco spoke about his feelings as he crossed the finish line: “Relief. I mean, honestly. I was quite tired the whole week after the Tour [de France], and I was a bit doubting if my level was going to be good enough to perform today. But luckily, from yesterday on I started to feel good again, fresh again. And also this morning I woke up pretty fresh, and I knew that there was a beautiful thing possible today.”

Team USA’s Brandon McNulty finished 5th, negotiating the course in a time of 37:16.6. McNulty spoke post race, “I was always saying top five, but in my heart I really just wanted the podium. I was close but just didn’t have it in the end, (I’m) still happy with it.” McNulty and the Team USA Men’s Cycling program now turn their attention to the road race on August 3rd. “It’s going to be a long day, 280km on these French roads. We see this kind of terrain in Midi-Pyrenees, and it’s always super-hard days. It’ll be a real monument (a collection of five ‘classic’ cycle races) type of a day, so that’ll be fun.”

Fellow American, Magnus Sheffield, finished 16th crossing the line at 38:05.2.

Grace Brown of Australia took the Gold in the Women’s Individual Time Trial earlier Saturday with a winning time of 39:38.2. With her announced retirement approaching Brown reflected on winning Gold, “It obviously feels really good. I’ve been second a lot of times, but this is a good one to win. I think Tokyo (2020 Olympic Games) when I came fourth really gave me the vision that I could aim for a result like this.”

Anna Henderson of (GBR) took Silver, while USA’s Chloe Dygert brings home the Bronze. Dygert has worked through injuries and a crash on the ITT course on the road to Bronze. “Honestly, I’ve been very blessed. Of course, everything comes with a mental challenge, but it’s something I feel like I’ve been really blessed with. God has given me the ability to overcome a lot of different obstacles on and off the bike.

“Even today with the crash, a lot of girls had crashes; but with the crash I was able to get back on the bike and still fight for a podium spot. Of course, it’s always hard to have to deal with an injury or a setback, but it’s part of the game, part of the sport.