By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) – Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel claimed gold in the men’s road race in dramatic fashion at the Olympics on Saturday to become the first male rider to achieve the double after also winning the time trial.
Evenepoel suffered a mechanical less than four kilometres from the finish, on the Carousel du Louvre, raising his arm for assistance before clapping and waving at his team to deliver a new bike in a scene of sheer panic.
The change was made swiftly, however, and he powered to the line after he had made the decisive move 15km from the finish, in the run-in to the second of three punishing ascents of the Butte Montmartre.
His brutal attack left Valentin Madouas, who was hovering 1:15 behind when Evenepoel’s incident occurred, gasping for air but the Frenchman hung on to take silver after 273km.
Evenepoel raised his arm again in the final kilometre but this time it was a pre-celebration before stepping off his bike as he crossed the line for a photo with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond)
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