The cycling program of the Rio Olympics stood out for its drama in cycling history, especially the road part. Overall, these Games would have counted among the unsuccessful outings for a cycling superpower like Italy, were it not for the outstanding all-rounder Elia Viviani.
Elia races both on the road (just think of his Giro stage in 2015) and on the track, where he is a multiple European champion and a World Championship medalist. A European title is prestigious, but it still doesn’t count among the top wins. For a performer of Elia’s genre it is very hard to collect such wins, because the number of events where he can succeed is very limited, especially at the Olympic Games. For him and riders like him, at the Olympics it is only possible in the omnium.
As you can see, the omnium is a cycling multi-event. The race in 6 events lasts two days, and the winner is the one who collects the most points across these six events.
As I already wrote, on the first day, after three events, only the outlines of the contenders could be seen. Before the last event, the 160-lap points race, these outlines became clear. Eight contenders still had a chance of winning the omnium.
15 August 2016
2016 Summer Olympics (Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL)
Men Omnium Points Race 66
CAVENDISH Mark (GBR) Dimension Data
VIVIANI Elia (ITA) Sky
HANSEN Lasse Norman (DEN) Stolting Service Group
Photo : Yuzuru SUNADA
The race was tense and could have turned dramatic too: because of a wrong move by omnium favorite Mark Cavendish (Great Britain), three riders crashed, among them the leader after five events and Mark’s main rival, Italy’s Elia Viviani.
15 August 2016
2016 Summer Olympics (Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL)
Men Omnium Points Race 66
PARK Sanghoon (KOR)
VIVIANI Elia (ITA) Sky
O’SHEA Glenn (AUS) ONE
Photo : Yuzuru SUNADA
Fortunately Elia was able to continue and, despite his rivals’ great efforts, gave up first place to no one. Elia won Italian cycling a long-awaited Olympic gold! Grande Elia!!!
15 August 2016
2016 Summer Olympics (Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL)
Men Omnium
1st : VIVIANI Elia (ITA) Sky
2nd : CAVENDISH Mark (GBR) Dimension Data
3rd : HANSEN Lasse Norman (DEN) Stolting Service Group
Photo : Yuzuru SUNADA
The Briton had to settle for silver, and the London Olympic champion in this event, Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen, was third this time.
15 August 2016
2016 Summer Olympics (Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL)
Men Omnium Points Race 66
VIVIANI Elia (ITA) Sky
GAVIRIA Fernando (COL) Etixx – Quickstep
Photo : Yuzuru SUNADA
The 2015–2016 two-time world omnium champion, Colombia’s Fernando Gaviria, finished just off the podium, in the most heartbreaking fourth place.
At the same time the women’s omnium got under way, and the preliminary rounds of the women’s individual sprint continued.
Featured image: Yuzuru SUNADA/www.yuzurusunada.com
Inside post thumbnail image: Yuzuru SUNADA/www.yuzurusunada.com
Special thanks to the Japanese photographer Yuzuru SUNADA for permission to use his works in our publications.
Translated from Georgian with the assistance of Claude (Anthropic), reviewed by the Velorbola editors.
In history, only three riders have won all five Monuments: [...]
April 15, 2019
