Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel among the favorites for the Olympic road race this weekend

PARIS (AP) — Remco Evenepoel and his Belgian teammates, along with most of the big names in the road race at the Paris Olympics, pedaled softly within a caravan earlier this week as the cyclists did a slow recon ride of the course they will face on Saturday.

The finishing circuit through the bustling tourist area of Montmartre, where the basilica of Sacre Coeur rises high above the city, was supposed to be closed for the ride. But with too many pedestrians and far too much traffic to control, the riders had to be content with a controlled 30 kph (18 mph) look at what could be the decisive spot on the course.

The biggest favorite in the men's race decided it wasn't worth it.

Instead, Mathieu van der Poel headed into the countryside for a training ride of his own. He later explained to Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad that it wasn't worth “sacrificing an entire afternoon to cycle around at a tourist pace.”

“I don't find that very useful,” he said. “There are plenty of videos of the course.”

You can bet van der Poel and the rest of the riders will be going decidedly faster than “tourist pace” with medals on the line.

The men's and women's road races traditionally open the cycling program at the Summer Games, but the schedule was altered for Paris. The men and women instead contested a rainy, treacherous time trial last Saturday — Evenepoel survived the slickness to win the men's gold medal, and Grace Brown of Australia took gold in the women's race — before mountain bike, BMX freestyle and BMX racing took center stage at venues scattered around the region.

Now, after a full week of Olympic competition, the focus of cycling shifts back to the road.

The men will ride 273 kilometers (170 miles) on Saturday and the women 158 kilometers (98 miles) on Sunday. Both will depart from the Pont d'Iena, the bridge at the base of the Eiffel Tower crossing the Seine, and head west into the French countryside on identical routes. They diverge there before the men and women contest the same run-in to the finish.

That is what they reconned Thursday, and where both of the races could be decided this weekend.

Riders first pass the Louvre on the way to the finishing circuit at Montmartre, which they will do three times. It includes a steep, kilometer-long climb to the final summit and difficult stretches of cobbles that could throw open the entire race.

"I found the finishing circuit tougher than expected,” said Lorena Wiebes, the leader of a powerful Dutch team that includes Tour de France winner Demi Vollering and former world champions Marianne Vos and Ellen van Dijk. “That last climb at Montmartre is 10 kilometers from the finish, but the peloton will be stretched. It’s all up and down, and a lot of corners.”

It's a course similar to some of the spring one-day Classics such as Paris-Nice, and those tend to favor riders with big power and bike-handling ability — like van der Poel, for example, or any of the riders on the Belgian squad.

Among them is Evenepoel, who followed his third-place finish at the Tour de France by winning the Olympic time trial. He is part of a strong contingent from Belgium that includes time trial bronze medalist Wout van Aert, Jasper Stuyven and Tiesj Benoot.

“Luckily, I’m not the lonely leader in my team, so we have multiple cards to play,” Evenepoel said. “Wout is in very good shape. Jasper as well. Tiesj is also always good in Classics races. We have a very strong team. Unfortunately, there are some other strong riders from other teams as well that are participating.”

The top five nations in the UCI standings get four riders apiece, giving them a big advantage in the smaller Olympic fields.

On the men's side, those teams include France, led by Julian Alaphilippe; the British team of Tom Pidcock, who won a second straight mountain bike gold medal last weekend; the Danish team led by versatile Mads Pedersen; and Slovenia, which Matej Mohoric will lead in place of Tour winner Tadej Pogacar, who withdrew from the Olympics due to fatigue.

The U.S. has three in the men's race, with Matteo Jorgenson joining Brandon McNulty and Magnus Sheffield.

In the women's race, the biggest competition for the Dutch could come from Italy, whose four-rider lineup features Elisa Longo Borghini. Other top teams include the British squad of Lizzie Deignan, the Belgian team of Lotte Kopecky and the Danish bunch of Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, who hopes to be fully recovered from her crash in the rainy time trial.

Kristen Faulkner will join time trial bronze medalist Chloe Dygert to represent the Americans in the women's road race.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games