Mathieu Van der Pol (Netherlands) attempted to blow away the Olympic road race with a spectacular finish circuit by launching a huge attack on the Côte de la Butte Montmartre climb, but was repelled by a counter attack by Remco Evenpole (Belgium) and In the end, he won the race single-handedly.

Paris-Roubaix winner and current world champion Lemko Evenpore finished 12th, 1:49 behind Evenpore.

When Evenpoel broke away from the peloton, attacked, and broke away alone with 15km to go, he realized that victory had eluded him.

"I think I did enough, but it was a difficult situation for me," van der Pol told Cycling News and other media after the race.

"When I attacked in Montmartre I thought the race was over. It was a good group, a really strong group. Then the group came back. When Lemko went, I thought it was a really dangerous moment and it was difficult to get him back. I am happy for him."

Van der Pol was often marked by Belgian rival Wout Van Aert. But with Even Paul in front, Van Aert was able to stay put and play tactical games, which was checkmate for the Belgian. Van der Pol was caught in a trap.

"I knew Wout van der Pol was concentrating on me, which is not a bad thing," van der Pol admitted.

"We went away a few times, even just the two of us, and I thought we had a chance. But we came back together again. That's racing."

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