The men's individual road race at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was held on 26 July 1976. There were 134 cyclists from 40 nations starting the race. The maximum number of cyclists per nation was four. Fifty-eight cyclists finished the race. The event was won by Bernt Johansson of Sweden, the nation's first victory in the men's individual road race. Giuseppe Martinelli put Italy back on the podium with his silver; the nation had won gold or silver at every Games from 1956 to 1968 but did not medal in 1972. Mieczysław Nowicki's bronze was Poland's first medal in the event.
Background This was the 10th appearance of the event, previously held in 1896 and then at every Summer Olympics since 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). Ryszard Szurkowski of Poland was "probably" the favorite; he had won the 1973 world championship and placed second in 1974. Neither the 1974 nor 1975 world champions competed in Montreal.
Bolivia and Nicaragua each made their debut in the men's individual road race. Great Britain made its 10th appearance in the event, the only nation to have competed in each appearance to date.
Competition format and course The mass-start race was on a 177.49 kilometre course "over the hilly Mont-Royal Circuit".Official Report, vol. 3, p. 199.
Schedule All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
Date Time Round Monday, 26 July 1976 10:00 Final
Results
The lead pack of 10 riders got clear during lap 6. Johansson broke away from the pack in the last lap for a clear win. In the final sprint by the remaining nine leaders, Thaler finished in front but was penalized for interfering with the other riders and demoted from second place to ninth (the back of the + 31" group, with Alfonsel falling behind the rest into 10th place).
Rank Cyclist Nation Time Bernt Johansson 4:46:52.0 Giuseppe Martinelli 4:47:23.0 Mieczysław Nowicki 4 Alfons De Wolf 5 Nikolay Gorelov 6 George Mount 7 Jean-René Bernaudeau 8 Vittorio Algeri 9 Klaus-Peter Thaler 10 Bernardo Alfonsel 4:47:27.011 Stanisław Szozda 4:49:01.012 Ryszard Szurkowski 13 Vlastimil Moravec 14 Carlos Cardet 15 Garry Bell 16 Karl-Dietrich Diers 17 Aleksandr Averin 18 Herbert Spindler 19 Wilfried Trott 20 Harry Hannus 21 Roman Humenberger 22 Álvaro Pachón 23 Luis Manrique 24 Pierre Harvey 25 Arie Hassink 26 Roberto Ceruti 27 Wolfgang Steinmayr 28 Clyde Sefton 29 Sven-Åke Nilsson 30 Jan Brzeźny 31 Carmelo Barone 32 Rafael Ladrón 33 Juan José Moral 34 Remo Sansonetti 35 Joseph Waugh 36 Frank Hoste 37 Hans-Peter Jakst 38 Thorleif Andresen 39 Valery Chaplygin 40 Leo van Vliet 41 Petr Bucháček 4:54:26.042 John Howard 43 Dudley Hayton 44 Aavo Pikkuus 4:54:49.045 Rubén Camacho 46 Peter Weibel 47 Dirk Heirweg 4:55:41.048 Eddy Schepers 49 Stoyan Bobekov 4:58:35.050 Ad Tak 5:00:19.051 Rudolf Mitteregger 52 Vern Hanaray 53 Ramón Noriega 5:03:13.054 Gilles Durand 55 Geir Digerud 5:04:42.056 David Boll 5:05:00.057 Richard Trinkler 58 José Ollarves 5:07:09.0 — Juan Carlos Haedo Osvaldo Benvenuti Oswaldo Frossasco Raúl Labbate Alan Goodrope Peter Kesting Marco Soria Ivan Popov Martin Martinov Nedyalko Stoyanov Tom Morris Brian Chewter Miguel Samacá Abelardo Ríos Carlos Alvarado Reyes Roberto Menéndez Gregorio Aldo Arencibia Jorge Pérez Petr Matoušek Vladimír Vondráček Verner Blaudzun Jørgen Emil Hansen Bent Pedersen Willy Skibby Gerhard Lauke Hans-Joachim Hartnick Siegbert Schmeisser René Bittinger Francis Duteil Christian Jourdan Philip Griffiths William Nickson Mikhail Kountras Kwong Chi Yan Chan Fai Lui Tang Kam Man Chan Lam Hams Mohamed Ali Acha-Cheloi Hassan Arianfard Asghar Khodayari Mahmoud Delshad Alan McCormack Oliver McQuaid Errol Walters Lucien Didier Marcel Thull Yahya Ahmad Luis Rosendo Ramos José Castañeda Rodolfo Vitela Miguel Espinoza David Iornos Hamblin González Manuel Largaespada Frits Schür Jamie Richards Pål Henning Hansen Stein Bråthen Daniele Cesaretti Paulino Martínez Leif Hansson Alf Segersäll Hansjörg Aemisegger Robert Thalmann Serge Demierre Panya Singprayool-Dinmuong Chartchai Juntrat Prajin Rungrote Arlee Wararong Michael Neel Carlos Alcantara Víctor González Waldemar Pedrazzi Washington Díaz Justo Galaviz Nicolas Reidtler
References
External links Official Report