Carapaz wins men's road race for Ecuador's 1st cycling medal

Hmmm........that appears to be spectators in the stands.

Did Suga and Bach lie again?

Congratulations to Richard Carapaz, Wout van Aert, and Tadej Pogacar.

Glad there are spectators. What's an Olympics without fans. Time to quit living in fear.

What a race!

And so many "protestors" lining the streets. Assuming those people cheering, waving flags, playing Taiko drums and having a really good time were protestors right?

Nice photos, but mostly of the breakaway that was caught. None of the actual medalists.

It was a great race. Pogacar had a go on Mikuni, but didn't get clear, and after that it was a case of whether someone would gamble really big or we'd be left with minor cat-and-mouse and the inevitable WvA sprint win.

McNulty went with perfect timing, Carapaz hitched on, and with no-one wanting to help WvA, the move proved decisive. It would have been nice for McNulty to hang on for silver, but not to be. Carapaz was already a national hero, and he's just cemented that in spades. Chapeau!

Road cycling is quite possibly the most underrated sport in Japan. Outside the cities, there are so many great roads with good tarmac and hardly any cars. As we saw today, there are climbs that will rival anything in the Grand Tours. If your knees aren't up for it, get an e-bike to help you. There is lots to great riding out there.

Hmmm........that appears to be spectators in the stands.

Did Suga and Bach lie again?

It is up to the prefectures, where the games are played, to allow spectators or not.

It was a good race. The streets had a decent number of well behaved cheering spectators. The Tour de France crowd can be a bit rougher. Most of it used public roads, so it might have taken legislation to block folk off from viewing it. It was interesting to see them include a F1 track. The cyclists might not have appreciated the number of inclines. For viewers around the world, it was a good (and now rare) chance to see Japan away from the tourist sites. The signature mix of greenery, residential and concrete.

A crazily long race though, especially as some participants were planning to do time trials in a few days. With our increasingly extreme climate, they could shorten it a bit. I only saw so much of it because my painkillers didn't kick in and I was up all night. I wouldn't have wanted to cycle it.