The Olympic men’s road race on Saturday is a hilly 234km,
but will involve 244km in the saddle including the 10km neutral zone before the
start proper. It involves 4,865 metres of climbing and will be very selective.
Given the elevation, and the fact some sections of
climbing have pitches of almost 20 per cent, this is a course that can really
suit the climbers in the field; with all three Irish riders more than capable
of performing.
Ireland is represented by Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin,
riding their fourth and third Games respectively, while 24-year-old Eddie
Dunbar is making his debut.
The 234km road race is being televised on Eurosport 1,
from 2:45am on Saturday to 10:30am. And while there may not be many takers in
Ireland for viewing the full event, if you tune in from any time after 7am you
should see a very large chunk of the event.
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But be warned, the 10.30am broadcasting finish time does not mean the race ends at that point. Indeed, it will most likely be over long before then. So if you want to see the finale, it’s best to tune in from 8am at the latest, depending on how much of the event you want to see of course.
The opening 40km is flat before the road gradually kicks
up. And with about 74km completed the first climb, Doshi Pass, officially
starts. However, the road rises for a long time before the official start of
that first climb. Doshi Pass is 5.9km with an average gradient at 5.7 per cent.
When the race gets to the top of the climb there is a
very small section of descending before 40km of flat, at the end of which the
next climb starts; Kagosaka Pass. That climb is 6.3km at 4.9 per cent.
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There is then a descent of about 10km and a mostly flat
short section and onto the Mount Fuji Circuit, featuring the lower slopes of
Mount Fuji; a climb of 15km at 5.8 per cent. That climb starts with just under
100km to go, so the race will still be a long way from the finale at that
point.
After descending the climb, the riders will move into the
undulating Fuji Speedway Loop, for 1½ laps of that circuit. A little further up
the road they will commence Mikuni Pass, which is regarded as the hardest climb
of the race.
That 5km ascent features an average gradient of 11.5 per
cent and it begins with just under 40km to go. That means the real action –
unless an early breakaway is allowed to run riot – will begin on this climb,
which has pitches of up to 17 per cent.
The Mikuni Pass is regarded by many riders as the key
selection point of the race. It is a climb where, for example, somebody like
Wout Van Aert (Belgium) would hope to survive a big attack from the purer
climbers in the field, such as Slovenians Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič, for
example.
And if someone like Van Aert is still with the pure
climbers at the top of that climb, or gets back to them on the descent, the
remainder of the course is not regarded as being as selective – on paper
anyway.
The race will then descend Mikuni Pass and then go back
onto the 6.3km Kagosaka Pass; the same climb tackled earlier in the race but
which will sting a lot more second time around.
From the top of that last climb, there remains just 20km
to race, with much of it downhill, though the final 10km features rolling
roads.
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