The men's and women's road races at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games start and finish in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower on the Pont d'Iéna that crosses the Seine between the Trocadéro Gardens and the Champ de Mars.
With a finishing circuit visiting the iconic Montmartre area of the city, the races suit the Classics riders who usually dominate the Tour of Flanders or Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Men's Road Race
The men's road race is 273km long with 2,800 metres of climbing and 13 named ascents including the Côte de la butte Montmartre on the 18.4km finishing circuits in central Paris. The last summit of this 1km climb that averages 6.5% comes with 9.5km to go.
The route will surely create a race of attrition, even more so with a peloton of only 90 riders and small teams.
As with every Olympic Games, the road race is a marquee event to highlight the famous features and attractions of the host city.
The men's race route snakes around the western reaches of Paris, heading out of the city centre through Paris Rive Gauche, hitting the first climb - the 1.9km Côte des Gardes (6%) before heading toward Versailles.
The course turns north passing the Château de Versailles as it heads to the next ascent, the Côte de Saint-Germain En-Laye (1.1km at 5.5%) at kilometre 36.
Passing through the Plaine de Versailles, the route then enters the first loop heading through the Vallée de la Mauldre and passing the ruins of the Château de Beynes, an 11th century castle.
This undulating loop includes the Côte des Mesnuls (1.1km at 6.1%) before returning to the Plaine de Versailles and turning toward Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines for a longer circuit that includes six climbs, four of which come within 18 kilometres.
After the Côte de Port-Royal (1km at 5.5%), the first major selection should come between kilometers 166 and 184 when riders hit the Côte de Senlisse (1.3km at 5.3%), the Côte d'Herbouvilliers (800m at 5.7%), Côte de Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse (1.3km at 6.3%) and Côte de Châteaufort (900m at 5.7%).
With one softening up behind them, the men then face the Côte de Bièvres (1.2km at 6.5%) that has a steep first 500m with pitches of up to 9.3%. By this point the men have 197km of racing in their legs and it will be a good place for attacks to drop the sprinters, considering the worst climb is just around the corner.
The Côte du Pavé des Gardes going the opposite direction of the first climb of the race - is 1.3km long and averages 6.5%, but the last 700m average over 9% with double-digit pitches, with the summit coming at 68km to go.
Riders then head back into central Paris for the choppy 18.4km finishing circuits, taking on the Côte de la butte Montmartre (1km at 6.5%) three times, the last with just 9.5km remaining before the medals are decided.
Women's Road Race
The women's road race is 158 kilometres long with 1,700 metres of climbing and nine named ascents, using the same run-out and finishing circuits as the men's race and only one loop outside the city centre, through the Vallée de Chevreuse.
The loop is modified from the men's race, starting the same with the Côte des Gardes before the loop and hitting the Côte de Port-Royal, but it diverges at Senlisse, skipping the climb there and instead covering the Côte de Cernay-la-Ville - a shallower 1.1km climb averaging 3.9%.
The women's route also skips the Côte d'Herbouvilliers heading straight to the Côte de Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse and and Côte de Châteaufort (900m at 5.7%) before diverging around the Côte de Bièvres and moving back toward the city centre via the Côte du Pavé des Gardes.
Just as for the men, the women's finish includes two laps of 18.4km including the Côte de la butte Montmartre before the flat finish along the Seine past the Quai d'Orsay and finishing on the Pont d'Iéna.
Time trials
The men's and women's time trials start upstream from the Eiffel Tower at Invalides, with a start on the Esplanade and a finish on the Pont Alexandre III.
Both fields tackles the same 32.4km route that heads east along the Boulevard Saint-Germain, over the Pont de Sully and past the Place de la Bastille where turns sharply toward a section that loops through the Polygone de Vincennes.
There is hardly any climbing to speak of but plenty of twists and turns, with a sharp left and right near the Vélodrome Jacques Anquetil the tightest of the dozen or so turns.
A long straight finishing 5km makes this a race for the pure time trialists.
