"I was where I had to be but the moment we entered the circuit my bike broke down" - Mechanical takes Jhonatan Narváez out of the medal battle in Paris

There was a lot of talk about Jhonatan Narváez before the Olympic Games, especially because of the internal conflict between his compatriot and defending Olympic champion Richard Carapaz and the national federation, who picked the new acquisition of UAE Team Emirates over Carapaz after a rather poor communication of the nomination criteria.

This brought even more eyes on Narváez and the way he'd fare in Olympic race, however there's not much to talk about as he suffered a mechanical problem at the worst possible time. "I was where I had to be, at all times. I did my best to stay hydrated and eat, but the moment we entered the circuit my bike broke down and I had to wait for car 21... out of 30," he said in a press communication of Ecuador's Olympic committee.

"At that moment, so quickly, you lose two minutes with the front end," continued the Ecuadorian, who had always been attentive and well placed among the top favourites. "It is disappointing that everything happens at the same time, not only is it hard to accept, after all the training process," he reflected.

"But it is the ugly side of sport that one has to accept. Especially because it was a beautiful course for me," concluded Narváez who crossed the line in 45th place within a group that arrived more than seven minutes behind the champion Remco Evenepoel.