The men's individual road race at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, 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. The maximum number of cyclists per nation was four. 55 cyclists finished. The event was won by Alexi Grewal 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's silver and Norway with Dag Otto Lauritzen'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 was considered "the best sprinter on the US team" but "not a great climber"; the hilly course did not favor him. Alexi Grewal 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 Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)
Date Time Round Sunday, 29 July 1984 13:00 Final
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."
Rank Cyclist Nation Time Alexi Grewal 4:59:57 Steve Bauer Dag Otto Lauritzen + 0' 21"4 Morten Sæther 5 Davis Phinney + 1' 19"6 Thurlow Rogers 7 Bojan Ropret 8 Néstor Mora 9 Ron Kiefel 1' 43"10 Richard Trinkler 11 Raúl Alcalá 12 Stefan Maurer + 3' 37"13 Alberto Volpi + 4' 10"14 Per Christiansson 15 Helmut Wechselberger 16 Enrique Campos 17 Luis Rosendo Ramos + 6' 14"18 Brian Fowler + 6' 48"19 Martin Earley 20 Atle Kvålsvoll 21 Fabio Parra 22 Thomas Freienstein + 7' 51"23 Francisco Antequera + 11' 30"24 Per Pedersen + 11' 46"25 Kari Myyryläinen 26 Lars Wahlqvist 27 Paul Kimmage 28 Daniel Amardeilh 29 Philippe Bouvatier 30 Kjell Nilsson 31 Harry Hannus 32 Stefan Brykt 33 Louis Garneau + 15' 30"34 Kurt Zellhofer 35 Primož Čerin 36 Achim Stadler 37 Stephen Cox 38 Patrick Wackström 39 Gary Thomson 40 Kim Eriksen 41 Werner Stauff + 18' 04"42 Jure Pavlič 43 Séamus Downey 44 Jean-Paul van Poppel + 22' 20"45 Matsuyoshi Takahashi 46 Marko Cuderman 47 Salvador Rios 48 Park Se-ryong 49 Johann Traxler 50 Jeff Leslie 51 Fernando Correa 52 Carlos Jaramillo 53 Arthur Tenn 54 Mustapha Najjari + 22' 30"55 Michael Lynch + 27' 05" — Luis Biera Gary Trowell John Watters Paul Popp Carlo Bomans Ronny Van Sweevelt Frank Verleyen Joslyn Chavarria Warren Coye Lindford Gillitt Wernell Reneau John Ford Earl Godfrey Clyde Wilson Alain Ayissi Joseph Kono Dieudonné Ntep Thomas Siani Pierre Harvey Alain Masson Craig Merren David Dibben Alfred Ebanks Aldyn Wint Manuel Aravena Roberto Muñoz Rogelio Arango Spyros Agrotis Ole Byriel Søren Lilholt Harri Hedgren Claude Carlin Denis Pelizzari Andreas Kappes Mark Bell Neil Martin Peter Sanders Darryl Webster Kanellos Kanellopoulos Ilias Kelesidis Randolph Toussaint Choy Yiu Chung Hung Chung Yam Law Siu On Leung Hung Tak Stefano Colagè Roberto Pagnin Renato Piccolo Lorenzo Murdock Kim Cheol-seok Lee Jin-ok Sin Dae-cheol Sirop Arslanian Dyton Chimwaza Daniel Kaswanga George Nayeja Amadu Yusufu Jesús Rios Mustapha Afandi Brahim Ben Bouilla Ahmed Rhail Hans Daams Twan Poels Nico Verhoeven Roger Sumich Hans Petter Ødegård Ramón Zavaleta Ramón Rivera Maurizio Casadei Hassan Al-Absi Mohammed Al-Shanqiti Abdullah Al-Shaye Ali Al-Ghazawi Manuel Jorge Domínguez Miguel Indurain José Salvador Sanchis Heinz Imboden Benno Wiss Muharud Mukasa Ernest Buule
References
External links Official Report