Duran Akbaş, Işık Bayraktar
Road cycling has been part of the Summer Olympic Games since the beginning of the modern Olympic Games. The current study aims to examine the results of athletes who have achieved rankings in various disciplines in road cycling between the 1896 Athens and 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The research group for this study consisted of athletes who placed in the top three in the men's (n=162) and women's (n=57) categories in the Olympic Games between 1896 and 2024. The athletes' data was obtained from the official results of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Pro Cycling Stats website. The frequency table of the countries of cyclists who placed in the top three in the men's and women's categories, their average race speeds, race distances, elevation gains, and the ratio of elevation gain to race distance are provided. While individual rankings are determined based on athletes’ completion times and finishes, road team results are calculated based on the combined finishing time of the top four athletes, and team time trials are calculated based on the finishing time of the team’s third athlete. According to the findings, the highest average speed in the men’s road cycling race (45.3 km/h) was recorded at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, whilst the highest average speed in the women’s category (40.7 km/h) was recorded at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. The average length of road races in the men's category between the 1896 and 2024 Olympic Games was determined to be 193.5±45.2 km, and the average length of road races in the women's category between the 1984 and 2024 Olympic Games was determined to be 116.6±25.9 km. In the men's road races, France and Belgium were the countries with the most podium finishes, winning nine medals (12.5%), while the United Kingdom won five medals (13.9%) in the individual time trials and Sweden won eight medals (14.8%) in the team time trials. In the women's category, the Netherlands won the most medals in road races with seven (21.2%), while the United States won the most medals in individual time trials with six (25%). As a result, race distances and average speeds varied depending on the Olympic Games. Changes in cyclists' average speeds may depend on the race format, course length, and elevation gain.