Olympics 2020

Road Races Will Yield Early Drama for Games

2 min read
FILE - United States' Chloe Dygert pedals during the women elite race at the road cycling World Championships in Harrogate, England, in this Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019, file photo. The men's and women's road races kick off the cycling program at every Summer Olympics. “Everybody in the world is trying to figure out how to beat the Dutch girls,” said Jim Miller, the high performance director for USA Cycling. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

The men's and women's road races kick off the cycling program at every Summer Olympics.

The men's race should be a wide-open affair with dozens of potential winners. The women's race will amount to the Dutch and the rest.

All eyes will be on the races, too. They offer two of the first gold medals for an Olympics that has been delayed an entire year by the COVID-19 pandemic

The men's road race and the other cycling disciplines -- the time trial, mountain biking, BMX freestyle and racing and the track program -- should prove a whole lot more difficult to handicap than the women.

MOUNTAIN BIKING

In the men's race, defending champion Nino Schurter of Switzerland will go for his fourth consecutive Olympic medal.

BMX FREESTYLE

The new discipline for the Tokyo Games should be a medal bonanza for the U.S., which features two of the world's top five men (Justin Dowell and Nick Bruce) and women (Hannah Roberts and Perris Benegas).

TRACK CYCLING

Britain has dominated events in the velodrome during the past two Olympic cycles, and despite a scandal that caused major changes to the team structure, Jason Kenny and Co. should be hard to beat at the track in the small city of Izu.

Kenny, who has come out of retirement, has six gold medals and a silver on his resume, and another gold would break a tie with Chris Hoy for most among British cyclists.

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