Cycling at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's individual road race

Men's cycling road race
at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Men's cycling road race; at the Games of the XX Olympiad
	The course
Venue	Munich, West Germany
Date	7 September 1972
Competitors	163 from 48 nations
Winning time	4:14:37
Medalists
	← 1968 1976 →

Last updated February 17, 2025

In cycling at the 1972 Summer Olympics, the men's individual road race was held on 7 September. There were 163 starters from 48 nations.^[1] The maximum per NOC was four. A total of 76 cyclists finished the race. The event was won by Hennie Kuiper of the Netherlands, the nation's first victory in the men's individual road race and first medal in the event since 1948. Clyde Sefton earned Australia's first medal in the event with his silver. Jaime Huélamo of Spain finished third, but was disqualified after failing a drug test; the medal was not reassigned.^[2]^[3] Italy missed the podium, breaking a four-Games streak of gold and silver medals.

Irish protesters

Seven members of the National Cycling Association (NCA) were arrested for disrupting the event. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised separate national federations on either side of the Irish political border. The NCA was an Irish Republican all-Ireland body not affiliated to the ICU. Three NCA members delayed the start by distributing leaflets,^[4] and the other four joined mid-race to ambush Irish competitor Noel Teggart, causing a minor pile-up.^[5]

Background

This was the ninth appearance of the event, previously held in 1896 and then at every Summer Olympics since 1936. It replaced the individual time trial event that had been held from 1912 to 1932 (and which would be reintroduced alongside the road race in 1996). Freddy Maertens of Belgium was favored; he had finished second to Régis Ovion (also racing in Munich) at the 1971 world championships and won 50 races in 1971 and 1972.^[1]

Cameroon, Jamaica, Malawi, and Togo each made their debut in the men's individual road race; East Germany competed separately for the first time. Great Britain made its ninth appearance in the event, the only nation to have competed in each appearance to date.

Competition format and course

The mass-start race was on a 200 kilometre course. It was a "relatively easy and flat" course.^[6]

Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date	Time	Round
Thursday, 7 September 1972	10:00	Final

Results

The field was relatively tight until lap 6, when a pack of 35 cyclists broke away to form a lead group. Kuiper made his move in the last lap, gaining significant separation from the pack.^[7]

Rank	Cyclist	Nation	Time
	Hennie Kuiper	Netherlands	4:14:37
	Clyde Sefton	Australia	4:15:04
DSQ	Jaime Huélamo	Spain	~~4:15:04~~^{[t 1]}
4	Bruce Biddle	New Zealand	4:15:04^{[t 1]}
5	Phil Bayton	Great Britain	+ 30"
6	Phil Edwards	Great Britain	+ 30"
7	Wilfried Trott	West Germany	+ 30"
8	Francesco Moser	Italy	+ 36"
9	Miguel Samacá	Colombia	+ 36"
10	Jesús Sarabia	Mexico	+ 36"
11	Piet van Katwijk	Netherlands	+ 36"
12	Cees Priem	Netherlands	+ 36"
13	Freddy Maertens	Belgium	+ 36"
14	Roman Humenberger	Austria	+ 36"
15	Régis Ovion	France	+ 36"
16	Francisco Elorriaga	Spain	+ 36"
17	Tore Milsett	Norway	+ 36"
18	Jiří Prchal	Czechoslovakia	+ 36"
19	Bruno Hubschmid	Switzerland	+ 36"
20	Iwan Schmid	Switzerland	+ 36"
21	Jørgen Marcussen	Denmark	+ 36"
22	Erwin Tischler	West Germany	+ 36"
23	András Takács	Hungary	+ 36"
24	Ueli Sutter	Switzerland	+ 36"
25	Fedor den Hertog	Netherlands	+ 36"
26	Fernando Cruz	Colombia	+ 36"
27	Erny Kirchen	Luxembourg	+ 36"
28	Ove Jensen	Denmark	+ 36"
29	Graeme Jose	Australia	+ 44"
30	Karl-Heinz Oberfranz	East Germany	+ 2' 32"
31	Ryszard Szurkowski	Poland	+ 2' 32"
32	John Trevorrow	Australia	+ 2' 32"
33	Wolfgang Wesemann	East Germany	+ 2' 32"
34	Valery Likhachov	Soviet Union	+ 2' 32"
35	Anatoly Starkov	Soviet Union	+ 2' 32"
36	Lucjan Lis	Poland	+ 2' 32"
37	José Viejo	Spain	+ 2' 32"
38	Liam Horner	Ireland	+ 2' 32"
39	Bernard Bourreau	France	+ 2' 32"
40	Kieron McQuaid	Ireland	+ 2' 32"
41	Jiří Háva	Czechoslovakia	+ 2' 32"
42	Lennart Fagerlund	Sweden	+ 2' 32"
43	Radoš Čubrić	Yugoslavia	+ 2' 32"
44	Sven-Åke Nilsson	Sweden	+ 2' 32"
45	Gustaaf Hermans	Belgium	+ 2' 32"
46	Johann Summer	Austria	+ 2' 32"
47	Petr Matoušek	Czechoslovakia	+ 2' 32"
48	Henning Jørgensen	Denmark	+ 2' 32"
49	Walter Riccomi	Italy	+ 2' 32"
50	Paul Brydon	New Zealand	+ 2' 32"
51	Jože Valenčič	Yugoslavia	+ 2' 32"
52	Brian Chewter	Canada	+ 2' 32"
53	Tekeste Woldu	Ethiopia	+ 2' 32"
54	Tomás Nistal	Spain	+ 2' 32"
55	Wolfgang Steinmayr	Austria	+ 2' 32"
56	Lucien Didier	Luxembourg	+ 2' 32"
57	Alfred Gaida	West Germany	+ 2' 32"
58	Donald Allan	Australia	+ 2' 32"
59	Lucien De Brauwere	Belgium	+ 2' 32"
60	Teodor Vasile	Romania	+ 2' 32"
61	John Howard	United States	+ 2' 32"
62	Tom Morris	Canada	+ 2' 32"
63	John Allis	United States	+ 2' 32"
64	Tibor Debreceni	Hungary	+ 2' 32"
65	Marcel Duchemin	France	+ 2' 32"
66	Juan Morales	Colombia	+ 2' 32"
67	Imre Géra	Hungary	+ 2' 32"
68	Peter Weibel	West Germany	+ 2' 32"
69	Peter Doyle	Ireland	+ 2' 32"
70	Thorleif Andresen	Norway	+ 2' 32"
71	Rudolf Mitteregger	Austria	+ 2' 32"
72	Gilles Durand	Canada	+ 2' 36"
73	Ali Hüryılmaz	Turkey	+ 2' 36"
74	Walter Tardáguila	Uruguay	+ 2' 51"
75	Gregorio Aldo Arencibia	Cuba	+ 4' 17"
76	Stanisław Szozda	Poland	+ 6' 04"
—	Roberto Breppe	Argentina	DNF
	Kensley Reece	Barbados	DNF
	Hector Edwards	Barbados	DNF
	Orlando Bates	Barbados	DNF
	Frans Van Looy	Belgium	DNF
	Luiz Carlos Flores	Brazil	DNF
	Miguel Silva Júnior	Brazil	DNF
	Lindsay Gauld	Canada	DNF
	Joseph Evouna	Cameroon	DNF
	Joseph Kono	Cameroon	DNF
	Nicolas Owona	Cameroon	DNF
	Jean Bernard Djambou	Cameroon	DNF
	Shue Ming-fa	Republic of China	DNF
	Fabio Acevedo	Colombia	DNF
	Raúl Marcelo Vázquez	Cuba	DNF
	José Prieto	Cuba	DNF
	Pedro Rodríguez	Cuba	DNF
	Alois Holík	Czechoslovakia	DNF
	Eigil Sørensen	Denmark	DNF
	Fisihasion Ghebreyesus	Ethiopia	DNF
	Rissom Gebre Meskei	Ethiopia	DNF
	Suleman Abdul Rahman	Ethiopia	DNF
	Ole Wackström	Finland	DNF
	Mauno Uusivirta	Finland	DNF
	Harry Hannus	Finland	DNF
	Tapani Vuorenhela	Finland	DNF
	Raymond Martin	France	DNF
	Dieter Gonschorek	East Germany	DNF
	Wolfram Kühn	East Germany	DNF
	David Lloyd	Great Britain	DNF
	John Clewarth	Great Britain	DNF
	József Peterman	Hungary	DNF
	Noel Teggart	Ireland	DNF
	Aldo Parecchini	Italy	DNF
	Franco Ongarato	Italy	DNF
	Howard Fenton	Jamaica	DNF
	Michael Lecky	Jamaica	DNF
	Radcliffe Lawrence	Jamaica	DNF
	Xavier Mirander	Jamaica	DNF
	Tarek Abou Al Dahab	Lebanon	DNF
	Paul Kind	Liechtenstein	DNF
	Grimon Langson	Malawi	DNF
	Raphael Kazembe	Malawi	DNF
	Abdul Bahar-ud-Din Rahum	Malaysia	DNF
	Daud Ibrahim	Malaysia	DNF
	Omar Haji Saad	Malaysia	DNF
	Saad Fadzil	Malaysia	DNF
	Agustín Alcántara	Mexico	DNF
	Francisco Vázquez	Mexico	DNF
	Francisco Huerta	Mexico	DNF
	Robert Oliver	New Zealand	DNF
	Vern Hanaray	Malaysia	NZL
	Arve Haugen	Norway	DNF
	Jan Henriksen	Norway	DNF
	Carlos Espinoza	Peru	DNF
	Enrique Allyón	Peru	DNF
	Fernando Cuenca	Peru	DNF
	Gilberto Chocce	Peru	DNF
	Maximo Junta	Philippines	DNF
	Jan Smyrak	Poland	DNF
	Daniele Cesaretti	San Marino	DNF
	Valery Yardy	Soviet Union	DNF
	Ivan Trifonov	Soviet Union	DNF
	Leif Hansson	Sweden	DNF
Bernt Johansson	Sweden	DNF
Hugo Schär	Switzerland	DNF
Panya Singprayool-Dinmuong	Thailand	DNF
Pramote Sangskulrote	Thailand	DNF
Sataporn Kantasa-Ard	Thailand	DNF
Sivaporn Ratanapool	Thailand	DNF
Charles Leodo	Togo	DNF
Gbedikpe Emmanuel Amouzou	Togo	DNF
Tompson Mensah	Togo	DNF
Anthony Sellier	Trinidad and Tobago	DNF
Clive Saney	Trinidad and Tobago	DNF
Patrick Gellineau	Trinidad and Tobago	DNF
Vernon Stauble	Trinidad and Tobago	DNF
Haluk Günözgen	Turkey	DNF
Mevlüt Bora	Turkey	DNF
Rıfat Çalışkan	Turkey	DNF
Alberto Rodríguez	Uruguay	DNF
Emile Waldteufel	United States	DNF
Robert Schneider	United States	DNF
Jorge Jukich	Uruguay	DNF
Mario Margalef	Uruguay	DNF
Eugen Pleško	Yugoslavia	DNF
Janez Zakotnik	Yugoslavia	DNF

Note:

1 2 Jaime Huélamo (ESP) was disqualified after he tested positive for nikethamide (Coramine). Biddle was not awarded the bronze medal as he had not been tested for drugs.

References

Official Report

Notes

1 2 "Road Race, Individual, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
↑ "Jaime Huélamo Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
↑ Historical Dictionary of Cycling By Bill Mallon, Jeroen Heijmans. Scarecrow Press. 2011.
↑ AAP (8 September 1972). "Rebel cyclists sent marching". The Age. Melbourne. p. 15. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
↑ AP (8 September 1972). "7 I.R.A. cyclists 'invade' Olympics; Rebels Say Their Team Is Better Than the Regulars, Then Try to Prove It". New York Times. p. 23, Sports. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
↑ Official Report, vol. 3, p. 211.
↑ Sports-reference

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[dq-8] 1 2 Jaime Huélamo (ESP) was disqualified after he tested positive for nikethamide (Coramine). Biddle was not awarded the bronze medal as he had not been tested for drugs.

[Olympedia-1] 1 2 "Road Race, Individual, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 5 November 2020.

[Huelamo-2] "Jaime Huélamo Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2014.

[3] Historical Dictionary of Cycling By Bill Mallon, Jeroen Heijmans. Scarecrow Press. 2011.

[4] AAP (8 September 1972). "Rebel cyclists sent marching". The Age. Melbourne. p. 15. Retrieved 13 February 2010.

[5] AP (8 September 1972). "7 I.R.A. cyclists 'invade' Olympics; Rebels Say Their Team Is Better Than the Regulars, Then Try to Prove It". New York Times. p. 23, Sports. Retrieved 13 February 2010.

[OR211-6] Official Report, vol. 3, p. 211.

[7] Sports-reference

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[t 1]

Cycling at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Road cycling
Road race	men
Team time trial	men
Track cycling
Track time trial	men
Individual pursuit	men
Team pursuit	men
Sprint	men
Tandem	men
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