Can you believe it? The 2024 Paris Olympics are here, which means the Olympic road race is right around the corner.
Both the men’s road race and the women’s road race start and end in Paris this weekend, with the men racing Saturday, August 3 and the women the following day.
Outside of Tadej Pogačar opting out of the Olympics, the folks you’ll see racing in the Olympics are the standard list of riders you’ll find at the pro levels. In North America, Brandon McNulty (Phoenix; UAE Team Emirates), Matteo Jorgenson (Boise, Idaho; Team Visma -Lease a Bike), and Kristen Faulkner (Homer, Alaska; EF-Oatly-Cannondale). However, the men’s team is noticeably one rider under the maximum of four riders per country.
That got us daydreaming a bit.
What if we were called into the Olympic road race? And while most of these riders will be aboard their team bikes, what about if we could choose our own bike? We’re definitely getting dropped in the first 30 seconds of the race, but perhaps the right setup could prevent that, if only for a moment.
Here’s how we’d set up our bikes for the 2024 Paris Olympics, fueled by delusion, grandeur, and hope that the right kit choices would give us every chance we can.
Let’s talk about the courses
Two courses are being used for the Paris Olympics road race: one 237 km (147.3 miles) course with 2,800 m (9186.4 feet) climbing for the men’s race, and a 158 km (98.2 miles) with 1700 m (5577.4 feet) of climbing for the women’s race. The two courses are fairly similar in profile, but the women’s route essentially removes one of the loops in the course.
What are these courses like? They’re designed to level the playing field: not flat, but not a huge climbing day, either. Call the course punchy, with only a few climbs that go past 1.5 km in length. Both men’s and women’s road races start by passing the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, and Les Invalides. After about 5 km, the racing begins.
Riders will have to climb 13 different climbs along the men’s course, with the final 50 km (31 miles) featuring three loops of the Butte Montemarte, some cobblestone, and the finish line at Trocadéro. Riders in the women’s road race will have 9 different climbs, with a 45 km finish similar to the men’s course. Both races have a flat finish at the end.
Both men’s and women’s road races will feature a 90-rider peloton each. Each country will have a maximum of four riders available, though some might have just one rider. As a result, rider tactics should be different too. Teams will have a much more difficult time controlling the pace due to being in smaller groups as well as a lack of radios.
Opportunistic riders can get away from the sprinters, but nobody else wants to miss the winning move. It’s not unlike what you’d see from a World Championship road race all things considered.
What types of bikes are allowed in the Olympic road race?
All sports in the Olympics have to follow the rules set by the governing bodies of those sports. Therefore all bike racing in the Olympics follows the UCI rules. All track and field events follow the rules of World Athletics and so on.
In short, all of the road bikes you’ve seen in the Tour de France this year will likely be in the Olympics this year.
So, how would we set up our bikes would we choose to race in the Olympic road race?
Alvin’s bike
In my eyes, the bike you want if you’re trying to win the Paris Olympics needs to have some sort of aero chops. It’s likely that you’re going to have to follow every attack to the best of your ability, so something that feels light on its feet but is reasonably aero is the ticket.
At the same time, though, that bit of cobblestone worries me a bit. I know I’ll have some fillings fall out if I don’t set my bike up properly, and what a waste of time it’ll be to have to backtrack and find those things mid-race!
Alright, here’s how I’d do it.
The frame is going to be the Cannondale SuperSix Evo 4 in its Hi-Mod variation. There are lighter frames out there, and there are more aerodynamic frames too. But there are few that manage both and have the kind of handling I think will matter at the end of the ride here. The three other frames I considered here include the BMC Teammachine R, Specialized Tarmac SL8, and Factor Ostro VAM.
The big reason I would want the Evo here though is for how composed it feels over cobbled roads. It’s not quite as snappy as some other bikes, but it does as good a job of keeping that front wheel in place as any race-ready road bike I’ve ridden. And perhaps surprisingly, the back of the bike manages to do a great job of putting the power down over those rougher roads too. None of these are qualities you’d expect from a road bike with the go-fast ambitions of the Supersix Evo, but it does a great job here.
I wouldn’t go with a stock SuperSix Evo, however, as much as I enjoyed the Hi-Mod 2 I reviewed last year. Rather, I’d swap the wheels for the Black Inc 48|58 wheels. These are available as standalone wheels, but most of my experience with them comes from riding the Factor Ostro VAM. There, I found these to feel exactly how I’d want my wheels to be: snappy under acceleration, wonderfully direct when cornering down a descent, and unbothered in crosswinds.
Perhaps the most impressive bit of the Black Inc 48|58 wheels is that they manage to do all of this while weighing in at just 1,250 grams. You pay for the privilege, but I’m certainly willing to do so for the Olympics.
Matching that wheelset would be a set of Vittoria Corsa Pro tires in a 28 mm width. I ultimately chose these over the Pirelli P-Zero TLR RS tire I quite liked, but it is just a touch heavier. Also in consideration was the new Continental Aero 111 tire we spotted at the Tour de France, but despite the aero claims, I would prefer to race on something I have ridden before. However, I haven’t ridden the new Aero 111 just yet, and I’m quite happy with the Corsa Pro tires both for speed, grip in the wet and dry, and puncture resistance for a single ride like this.
There is no shortage of great road bike tires out there, but for a single-day race like the Olympic Road Race, my gut says to go with the Vittoria tires.
As for the groupset? It’s a toss-up, frankly. But as of now, I think I’d go with the new SRAM Red AXS groupset, but only by a hair. I detail everything I like about the new group in our review, but my key thought here is that I adore that braking performance. Shimano’s shifting along the cassette is still a little smoother, but SRAM’s performance here is as close as makes no difference.
Josh’s bike
There’s nothing I love more than a good thought experiment to figure out what is the right bike for the day. We actually have far more latitude than even professional athletes since we have no obligation to pick sponsor products. That means the first thing I did was open up the course in RidewithGPS.
I started my search for the perfect bike by looking at three things. I wanted to know how much climbing vs flat there is, how steep the climbs are, and how much wind there is. The wind is obviously an estimate since I’m looking as I write this and who knows what the day will bring. Despite that, there’s basically no wind speed anywhere near Paris. That’s a good sign that wind isn’t going to be a major factor and I’m free to get as aero as possible without worry.
At the same time, I can also see there’s almost no flat. That could push the decision towards a climber’s bike except the climbs aren’t that steep or long. An Olympic peloton is going to be flying on these so aero is king. Plus, the UCI minimum weight is still in effect and it’s possible to hit the UCI minimum with an aero bike in today’s world.
Intel gathered, and my first thought was the Scott Foil RC. That seems like the most aero setup available for the least weight. I was deep into figuring out wheels but then Alvin reminded me of the cobbles. That throws a wrench into things because now I want comfort.
That last requirement immediately made me think of the Trek Madone Gen 8 I recently reviewed. That bike is incredibly comfortable over rough pavement, hits UCI minimum, and is aero-optimized. The one thing I still want to change is the wheels. The included wheels are Bontrager Aeolus RSL 51 and at only 51mm deep they are also 1410 grams. There’s room to go both deeper and slightly lighter.
The first wheel I thought of to match that description is from Scope. I’m currently testing the Scope Artech 4 but even the deeper 65mm Scope Artech 6 only weighs 1244 grams. That’s impressive aero credentials for a wheel that light. It actually seems so good that the combo of Trek Madone and Scope wheels strikes me as perfect for just about anything. The only problem now is that any UCI race will require additional weight because of the 6.8kg minimum. I say grab a steel rail version of whatever saddle you like.
Now for the rest of the build. SRAM Red is my preference in general but most of my reasons have more to do with useability, not ultimate performance. Alvin is right though, the brakes are incredible.
For tires, my preference is always going to be the Schwalbe Pro One. Only Schwalbe is open about the testing that goes into wide hookless performance and even though the Scope wheels are hooked, I’m still sticking with the company that shares testing info.