Eyes on the prize: Evenepoel thunders to Olympic title in crazy time trial, bronze for Van Aert

After the women's time trial won by Australian Grace Brownit was barely half an hour later to the men in Paris. There it was immediately a matter of paying attention, with names like Jan Tratnik (Slovenia) and Alberto Bettiol (Italy) among the first starters. The first had to deal with bad luck pretty quickly and could thus quickly forget a good final ranking, the second set the first target time at the intermediate point.

Due to the limited field of participants, the men followed each other in quick succession. Soren Waerenskjold, on behalf of Norway one of the outsiders for an Olympic diploma, was given the dubious honor of first crash and abandonment in Paris. And unfortunately a few more followed...

Mathias Vacek also posted good times on behalf of the Czech Republic, while the countries with two starters were already sending out their better pawns at that point. Just after the start of Dutchman Daan Hoole, Magnus Sheffield, Van Aert, Stefan Bissegger and Joshua Tarling already appeared at the start. Although from then on it was also not long until the start of the last top riders, namely Stefan Küng, Brandon McNulty, Filippo Ganna and reigning world champion Remco Evenepoel.

Sheffield lived up to his status by doing seventeen seconds faster than Vacek over the first leg, where Stefan Bissegger had to concede three more seconds. Hoole also did well, by the way, as evidenced by his status in time trial country. Van Aert, who as conceived started with the front wheel closed, in turn dipped handsomely below Sheffield's time.  

The next time to look forward to was Tarling's, but from him we suddenly saw an image of him having to get back on his bike. It turned out to be a flat front tire for the Brit, who lost about half a minute. A shot later, we suddenly saw torn pants on Sheffield, who had fallen and was losing time;

Meanwhile, it was waiting for the last riders at point one so we could get something of an overview. Tarling - despite his flat tire - recorded the fourth time there, three seconds behind Van Aert, close to Luke Plapp and McNulty. Stefan Küng already conceded 23 counts, after which we had to wait until Ganna and Evenepoel: the Italian was three seconds faster than Van Aert, Evenepoel in turn was still seven counts better.

In the fairly technical second section, Van Aert thundered on solidly, but even stronger, he built his lead over Tarling a bit more. The other man who was close, Plapp, had to leave the race after a heavy fall.

Van Aert, meanwhile, arrived at the finish line with a one-minute lead over the hitherto fastest man Bissegger. Ganna had to concede time at point two instead of staying ahead, after which the Italian also miraculously stayed upright after a near-touch with a crowd barrier. In that respect, this time trial - like the women's - was good for another couple of heartbreaks.

Tarling was two seconds short of Van Aert at the finish line, making his bike change in the opening stages a very expensive one. But it was good news for the Belgian, who was more or less sure of a medal. Only Ganna and Evenepoel still had to reach the finish line, with the Italian seeming to have cranked up his moped in the final stretch;

The monster from Verbania ended up posting a time at the finish that was ten seconds faster than Van Aert's. Before we knew it, however, Evenepoel was also there. With clenched fist, the Belgian crossed the finish line, taking his more than deserved Olympic title.