Seeing stars of the quality of Van der Poel, Van Aert and Evenepoel, as well as others like Julian Alaphilippe, Tom Pidcock, Michael Matthews, Santiago Buitrago, Daniel Martinez, Derek Gee, Jhonatan Narvaez, Christophe Laporte, Ben Healy, Filippo Ganna, Rui Costa or Matej Mohoric, the field is stacked in the fight for a new Olympic champion.
The route of the men's road race will be 273 kilometres without any flat for the cyclists. A leg-breaking route that will give no respite, with constant up and down sections. All the cyclists who have already spoken about the race have done so with great respect, like Spanish hopeful
Oier Lazkano who, in the previous press conference, said that the race is going to be "very chaotic".
After the controversial non-election of Richard Carapaz for Ecuador's representative (Jhonatan Narváez will have that honour) there will be a new Olympic gold medallist guaranteed.
Another compelling reason will be to see the new chapter of one of the most beautiful rivalries of the present. Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, multidisciplinary rivals, are two of the favorites to win the gold medal at the Olympic Games. Over the past few years they have nurtured a narrative about each other that makes every duel between the two, especially on the scale of an event like the Olympics, a must-see.
In addition, the Belgian was unable to take part in either the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix, the two monuments in which he was to beat the Dutchman (who won both), because of his crash in the previous Across Flanders. Eager for "revenge", will Van Aert be able to topple Van der Poel, who is coming off a historic first half of 2024?