A perfect race, perfect terrain, and perfect team strategy led Belgium's Remco Evenpoel to a historic gold medal in the men's road race at the Paris Olympics. With this victory, Evenpoel became the first male athlete to win both road events at the Olympics. Leontien Zifler van Moorsel of the Netherlands was the only other athlete to win at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

But Evenepaul's road race victory came with a heart-stopping moment when he suffered a flat tire with 3.8 km to go. As he tried to share his joy in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, Evenpoel waved frantically for the team car.

"I think it was a pretty stressful moment. I think about a kilometer before the accident, the bike was right next to me and showed me a sign that I had a 25-second advantage," explained Evenpoel, pointing out that the time difference indicated by the bike officials was wrong. The gap between silver medalist Valentin Maduas and the group behind the Frenchman was about 35 seconds.

"I was a little stressed because I knew Valentin and the group behind me would pass me soon.

"In the end, I think I hit a cobblestone with my rear wheel and that was the end of my luck. The bike change, courtesy of the Belgian mechanic, was fast enough, and Evenpoel was still holding 1:11 at the finish line. He concluded, "It was as smooth as possible, but it could have spiced up my victory."

Even spicier were the pictures of Evenpoel's finish line and podium. As he crossed the finish line, he dismounted his Specialized bike and placed it in front of him, with the Eiffel Tower directly behind him. And on the podium, inspired by Michael Phelps, he wore his individual time trial gold medal and received his second road race gold medal.

"I have a pretty unique photo on my Instagram right now. I remember back in the day Michael Phelps had a medal around his neck."

Evenepoel explained that his phone gesture was a "dial in," a reference to the salute made by tennis player Ben Shelton.

"The moment in the last few meters of the race was very special. I knew there was only a "little building" behind me and I wanted to enjoy the moment. The finish line photo will probably be one of the most beautiful ever". I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could because arriving in front of the Eiffel Tower is so special."

Evenpoel was Belgium's first Tour de France podium since 2010, when Alberto Contador and Denis Menchov were disqualified and Jurgen van den Broeck finished third. Prior to that, the last time Belgium had been on the Tour podium was in 1981 with Lucien Van Impe.

"I think everyone knows that this month was one of the most important months of the season. 'We achieved our goals at the Tour, we achieved our goals at the Olympics, we achieved our goals at the Tour, we achieved our goals at the Olympics. I wanted two medals and one gold, but I never dreamed of two gold medals. To be able to do it this year in Paris, a very beautiful finish line, is extraordinary, maybe the most beautiful month of my career."

With a team of up to four riders and a peloton of just 90 taking on the 273-km road race, team tactics are crucial, and Evenpoel praised the team's work ethic.

"I think we put in a really strong performance. Taige (Benoot) controlled the race. Jasper (Staven) was always ready to make the important moves. I followed Mathieu's big attack in Montmartre. After that it was my turn and I think I did what I had planned there.

"I think the race went exactly as we talked about yesterday evening and it was executed perfectly. So I think it deserves 11 out of 10 points."

In order to even out the number of female competitors at the Olympics, the number of teams in the men's peloton was reduced from a maximum of five, 132, to just 90 this year. Evenpoel, however, said he had no problem with that.

"With only four people, it's harder to take responsibility. A lot of teams only had three, because they are used to running with a group of 200 people instead of 90."

"But of course, rules are rules and there's nothing to say about that. So you just have to accept that and do your best the rest of the way. As a spectator, it might be more spectacular if we had a bigger group. But I'm not complaining."

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