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Cycling at the 1948 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

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Men's cycling road race
at the Games of the XIV Olympiad
The peloton passes through the start and finish line
VenueOlympic Road Course, Windsor Great Park
194.633 km (120.9 mi)
Date13 August 1948
Competitors101 from 29 nations
Winning time5:18:12.6
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) José Beyaert
 France
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Gerrit Voorting
 Netherlands
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Lode Wouters
 Belgium
← 1936
1952 →

The men's individual road race at the 1948 Summer Olympics was held on an 11.45 km course. The course was circled seventeen times, so the total length of the competition was 194.6 km. There were 141 entries from 31 nations and 101 participants from 29 nations. Of the 101 starters, 28 rode the distance to the end.[1][2] The event was won by José Beyaert of France, the nation's second consecutive victory in the men's individual road race. The Netherlands and Belgium won their first medals in the event, with Gerrit Voorting's silver and Lode Wouters's bronze, respectively.

Each nation could enter up to four cyclists. A team classification was made, based on the rankings of the three best cyclists per nation, and this was used to determine the results of the team road race.

Background

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This was the third appearance of the event, previously held in 1896 and 1936; it would be held at every Summer Olympics after 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). There was no clear favorite, though Adolfo Ferrari of Italy was the reigning world champion. The race was initially intended to be held at Richmond Park in Surrey, but "a law was discovered that prohibited any activity there at more than 20 miles per hour."[3]

Argentina, Guyana, India, Mexico, Norway, Pakistan, South Korea, and Uruguay each made their debut in the men's individual road race. Great Britain made its third appearance in the event, the only nation to have competed in each appearance to date.

Competition format and course

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The mass-start race was on a course that covered 17 laps of a 11.45 kilometres circuit around Windsor Great Park, for a total of 194.63 kilometres. The course was "relatively flat."[3] It "included no severe gradients, but was sufficiently undulating to provide a real test of stamina, and with bends . . . which needed all the skill of the contestants at the speed at which the race was run."[4] The surface was less than ideal, with "loose gravel roads" causing numerous punctures.[3]

Schedule

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All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Friday, 13 August 1948 11:00 Final

Results

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Johansson broke away from the pack during the second lap, with Voorting and Faanhof catching him in lap 3. Johansson suffered a puncture during lap 9, falling back to the peloton. A chase group of nine cyclists caught up to Voorting and Faanhof on lap 12, but crashes and punctures dropped Faanhof, Rasmussen, and Rouffeteau out of the lead pack. Thomas was the first to attempt a breakaway, on lap 16, but was quickly caught by De Lathouwer and less-quickly caught by the rest of the pack in the last lap. Beyaert made two pushes on the last lap, being caught by the pack on the first but separating from the group on a short climb a half-mile away from the finish line; he held on to win the race. Voorting finished with a sprint for the silver medal.[3][4]

Rank Cyclist Nation Time
1st place, gold medalist(s) José Beyaert  France 5:18:12.6
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Gerrit Voorting  Netherlands 5:18:16.2
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Lode Wouters  Belgium 5:18:16.2
4 Leon De Lathouwer  Belgium 5:18:16.2
5 Nils Johansson  Sweden 5:18:16.2
6 Bob Maitland  Great Britain 5:18:16.2
7 Jack Hoobin  Australia 5:18:18.2
8 Gordon Thomas  Great Britain 5:18:18.2
9 Adolfo Ferrari  Italy 5:21:45.0
10 Silvio Pedroni  Italy 5:21:45.0
11 Alain Moineau  France 5:21:45.0
12 Eugène Van Roosbroeck  Belgium 5:21:45.0
13 Jakob Schenk  Switzerland 5:21:45.0
14 Rudi Valenta  Austria 5:24:48.0
15 Jean Brun  Switzerland 5:26:54.0
16 Ian Scott  Great Britain 5:26:57.2
17 Jacques Dupont  France 5:12:45.3
18 Harry Snell  Sweden 5:28:22.2
19 Franco Fanti  Italy 5:29:35.2
20 Livio Isotti  Italy 5:31:08.6
21 Ceferino Peroné  Argentina 5:33:15.4
22 Dante Benvenuti  Argentina 5:33:15.4
23 Miguel Sevillano  Argentina 5:33:15.4
24 Åke Olivestedt  Sweden 5:33:48.2
25 Walter Reiser  Switzerland 5:34:25.2
26 Russell Mockridge  Australia 5:39:54.6
27 Kristian Pedersen  Denmark 5:39:57.2
28 Knud Andersen  Denmark 5:39:57.2
Mario Mathieu  Argentina DNF
Ken Caves  Australia DNF
Jim Nestor  Australia DNF
Hans Goldschmid  Austria DNF
Siegmund Huber  Austria DNF
Josef Pohnetal  Austria DNF
Liévin Lerno  Belgium DNF
Laddie Lewis  Guyana DNF
Lorne Atkinson  Canada DNF
Florent Jodoin  Canada DNF
Lance Pugh  Canada DNF
Laurent Tessier  Canada DNF
Rafael Iturrate  Chile DNF
Mario Masanés  Chile DNF
Exequiel Ramírez  Chile DNF
Rogelio Salcedo  Chile DNF
Børge Saxil Nielsen  Denmark DNF
Rudolf Rasmussen  Denmark DNF
Paul Backman  Finland DNF
Torvald Högström  Finland DNF
Erkki Koskinen  Finland DNF
René Rouffeteau  France DNF
Ernie Clements  Great Britain DNF
Manthos Kaloudis  Greece DNF
Evangelos Kouvelis  Greece DNF
Petros Leonidis  Greece DNF
Henk Faanhof  Netherlands DNF
Evert Grift  Netherlands DNF
Piet Peters  Netherlands DNF
Bapoo Malcolm  India DNF
Raj Kumar Mehra  India DNF
Eruch Mistry  India DNF
Homi Powri  India DNF
Hwang San-ung  South Korea DNF
Gwon Ik-hyeon  South Korea DNF
Robert Bintz  Luxembourg DNF
Marcel Ernzer  Luxembourg DNF
Henri Kellen  Luxembourg DNF
Pitty Scheer  Luxembourg DNF
Placido Herrera  Mexico DNF
Francisco Rodríguez  Mexico DNF
Gabino Rodríguez  Mexico DNF
Manuel Solis  Mexico DNF
Nick Carter  New Zealand DNF
Lorang Christiansen  Norway DNF
Leif Flengsrud  Norway DNF
Erling Kristiansen  Norway DNF
Aage Myhrvold  Norway DNF
Wazir Ali  Pakistan DNF
Hernán Llerena  Peru DNF
Pedro Mathey  Peru DNF
Luis Poggi  Peru DNF
Dirkie Binneman  South Africa DNF
George Estman  South Africa DNF
Wally Rivers  South Africa DNF
Olle Wänlund  Sweden DNF
Giovanni Rossi  Switzerland DNF
Ali Çetiner  Turkey DNF
Mustafa Osmanlı  Turkey DNF
Orhan Suda  Turkey DNF
Talat Tunçalp  Turkey DNF
Frank Brilando  United States DNF
Ed Lynch  United States DNF
Chester Nelsen  United States DNF
Wendell Rollins  United States DNF
Waldemar Bernatzky  Uruguay DNF
Enrique Demarco  Uruguay DNF
Mario Figueredo  Uruguay DNF
Luis López  Uruguay DNF
Milan Poredski  Yugoslavia DNF
August Prosenik  Yugoslavia DNF
Aleksandar Strain  Yugoslavia DNF
Aleksandar Zorić  Yugoslavia DNF

References

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  1. ^ "Cycling at the 1948 London Summer Games: Men's Road Race, Individual". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  2. ^ "THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE XIV OLYMPIAD" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d "Road Race, Individual, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  4. ^ a b Official Report, p. 319.