2016 Olympic Games
Road Races
The opening weekend of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio provided an exhilarating couple of days of racing with the men's and women's road races. Belgium's Greg van Avermaet emerged victorious in the men's race, linking up with Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) to close down lone leader Rafal Majka (Poland) in the closing kilometres. Majka led the race with Vincenzo Nibali and Sergio Henao over the top of the final climb, but the latter two both crashed on the descent, as Richie Porte had done one lap previously. Van Avermaet managed to stay in contact with the second group on the road up the climb and broke clear with Fuglsang to break Majka's heart, though the Pole did have the consolation prize of bronze.
The women's race followed a similarly chaotic formula, with a crash on the final descent giving way to a solo bid for gold that proved agonisingly in vain. It was Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) who crashed nastily on the way down, leaving American Mara Abbott on her own all the way to the final 500m, where she was cruelly overhauled by a chase group, with Van Vleuten's teammate Anna van der Breggen taking the gold medal after beating Emma Johansson (Sweden) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) in the sprint.
Track Racing
The Rio Velodrome has belonged to Great Britain after four days on the boards with Olympic and World Records falling on a daily basis. The Great Britain sprint team kicked things off before the men and women's team pursuit squads easily claimed gold. Jason Kenny added another gold in the men's sprint as he won his fifth career gold ahead of compatriot Callum Skinner.
Rebecca James added silver to GB's haul in the Keirin with Dutchwoman Elis Ligtlee winning gold and Anna Meares the bronze. The Women's team sprint is the only track event in which Great Britain failed to medal with Chinese duo Gong Jinjie and Zhong Tianshiof claiming gold ahead of Russia's Daria Shmeleva and Anastasia Voynova.
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Overview
Rio de Janeiro is set to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games and a full schedule of cycling events on the road, track, BMX and mountain bike.
The racing kicks off along the Copacabana with the men's road race on August 6, followed by the women's road race the next day. The men and women will compete in the individual time trial on August 10, followed by six days of track racing events.
BMX follows with three days of competition, while the cross country mountain bike events close out the cycling events on August 20 and 21.
Rubber meets the road to Rio: Full Olympic Games preview
