"I did my best to get a medal, but it didn't happen." These were the words of Matteo Jorgenson (USA), making his debut in the men's road race at the Paris Olympics. He finished ninth under the Eiffel Tower in a small group chasing the bronze medal won by Christophe Laporte of France. [He had a strong quartet of riders, including Remco Evenpole, who won the Olympic time trial last weekend, Wout van Aert, who won the silver medal in the road race at the Tokyo Olympics, Jasper Stuyven, and Tiesj Benoot. Three of them were on his trade team, Vima Lease-a-Bike, and he knew the Belgians well. Valentin Madous (France) won the silver medal, while the others chased the last podium position.

"We had a really good fight. We were in a position to win, but in the end we lost tactically. There were teams with a lot of numbers like France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and although I made the right moves, I don't think any of them worked well. In the end, I used up energy where I didn't need to and got attacked at the front," Jorgenson said in a statement to USA Cycling after the race.

"Wout (van Aert) was in a group with (Mathieu) van der Pol and me, and Remco (Evenpol) attacked on top of us. So in the end, this is what they had to do. The Belgian team, along with the French team, had four in each of the five countries.

Heading to the Montmartre summit course for the second of three times on the 18.4km finish circuit, Jorgenson was part of the battle to chase the breakaway Ben Healy (Ireland). Evenpole then accelerated furiously, and only Frenchman Valentin Madouas began a furious chase.

Jorgenson caught up to his Vimalise-a-Bike teammate Laporte, who was leading the main group with 9.5km to go. Van Aert had already dropped back, but he was able to consolidate the group on the final lap and did not allow Van der Pol, Mads Pedersen (Denmark), or Julien Alaphilippe (France) to make any headway.

Jorgenson said that he was aware that the podium was within reach, even as he rode at the front to reel in Madduas.

"Christophe Laporte was teammates with Maduas, so he basically never worked with us. We all didn't want to work hard because we knew we were going to keep Christophe sprinting. But it was tactically difficult and there was nothing more I could do," he told Cycling News and other media at the finish.

"At one point I was desperate to keep the pack behind me from coming back to join the medal contenders.

The biggest takeaway from the memorable event, he said, was the size of the crowd, which seemed to be tilted in favor of the Belgian and French teams; the roar from the sidelines was decidedly different on the final section as the 272-km race returned to the narrow streets of Paris.

"The whole country of Belgium, the whole country of France ...... . was like a wall, a tunnel of noise, for six and a half hours. I didn't hear much else. All I could hear was the crowd," Jorgenson laughed shortly.

"I think they made the route well. They had found all the little climbs around Paris and the final circuit was beautiful.

"When the Tour de France finishes on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, we do a circuit through the city like this. It's comparable to that. The Tour of Flanders is the same way, with lots of people running. That climb was really great, there were a lot of people there, and it was a really fun day."

Teammate Brandon McNulty was 24th and Magnus Sheffield 42nd.

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