Cycling Road

Cycling is composed of various disciplines, reflecting its age-old past and modern outlook. Road cycling is the earliest form of the sport. During the 19th century, cycling enjoyed a surge in popularity thanks to the invention of the chain-and-gearing system. The first races were organised a few years later, with the first documented event held in 1868 in Parc de Saint Cloud in Paris. Shortly thereafter, national cycling federations began to be established and an international federation, known as the Union Cycliste Internationale, was set up in 1900 to oversee the organisation of the various disciplines.

Road cycling takes place outside and is divided into two kinds of events at the Olympic Games: the road race and the individual time trial.

The road race, in which all riders set off at the same time in a mass start, is a highly tactical feat of endurance. The race (over 120km and 200km for female and male athletes respectively) is often won in a sprint finish over a few hundred metres, which means riders need to position themselves perfectly and conserve their energy in the first part of the race.

The time trial is a solo effort in which competitors set off at staggered times rather than in a grouped peloton. They cover a much shorter distance than that of the road race, as the time trial rarely exceeds 50km. Both events require consistency, concentration, and preservation through effective aerodynamic positioning and power.

Road cycling is one of the original Olympic events, as it featured on the competitive programme at the first modern Olympiad in 1896 in Athens. However, the discipline would be left out of the next three Olympiads before making a return at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm with the time trial. Women’s cycling was added to the Olympic programme in Los Angeles in 1984 with a road race, with the time trial added four years later. Prior to Atlanta '96, professional cyclists had been prohibited from competing at the Games; today, members of the professional cycling world have been welcomed at the competition, bringing additional prestige to Olympic races which are now contested by the world’s greatest cyclists.