Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) made a huge attack on the Côte de la butte Montmartre climb and tried to blow up the Olympic Games road race on the spectacular finishing circuits, but had no reply when Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) counter-attacked and eventually rode alone to victory.
The Paris-Roubaix winner and current World Champion could only finish 12th, 1:49 down on Evenepoel, bringing home the second chase group.
He knew victory had escaped him when Evenepoel got away from the peloton, blasted across with an attack and then went clear alone with 15km to go.
“I think I was good enough but it was a difficult situation for me,” Van der Poel admitted, speaking post-race to Cyclingnews and then other media.
“I thought when I attacked on Montmartre, that the race was over. We had a good and really strong group. Then it came back. When Remco went, I knew it was a really dangerous moment and difficult for us to get him back. I’m happy for him."
Van der Poel was often marked by Belgian rival Wout van Aert. But with Evenepoel up the road, and Van Aert able to sit on and play a tactical game, it was checkmate for Belgium. Van der Poel was caught in a trap.
“I knew that Wout van Aert was focusing on me but there’s nothing wrong with that,” Van der Poel admitted.
“We went away, even just the two of us, a few times and I thought we had a chance. But it came back together. That’s racing.”
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