Cyclist Remco Evenepoel on Saturday surged to the Olympic road race crown to become the first rider to claim the title along with the gold medal for the time.
The 24-year-old Belgian completed the 273km trek around Paris and along the Seine to Versailles in six hours, 19 minutes and 34 seconds.
The road race saw cyclists speed through some of the most picturesque streets of the capital, including the famous Montmartre hill, while the start and finish line was in front of the Eiffel Tower.
French duo Valentin Madouas and Christophe Laporte took silver and bronze respectively in front of thousands of screaming partisans.
The two medals for France were the country's first in the men’s Olympic road race in 68 years.
The win capped a spectacular few weeks for Evenepoel who finished third in the Tour de France.
"I don't know if it is an Olympic record but there were 500,000 people along the route," Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters at a daily briefing on Sunday, citing figures from the Paris police department.
Biles' third gold
Elsewhere, the American gymnast Simon Biles collected her third gold medal of the games.
Following successes in the women's team gold and the all-around title, the 27-year-old won the vault.
Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, who claimed gold in the vault at the Tokyo Games in 2021, took silver and Biles' compatriot Jade Carey got bronze.
In tennis, Australia won the men's doubles. Matthew Ebden and John Peers beat the American pair Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-7, 7-6, 10-8.
Qinwen Zheng claimed the gold medal for China in the women's singles. The 21-year-old who ousted top seed Iga Swiatek in the semi-final dispatched Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3.
Zheng is the first player from China to win a medal in tennis at the Olympics.
