The Olympic road race peloton will be small - but that's a good thing

The reduced bunch will look odd to seasoned viewers of elite cycling, but the Paris road races are going to be a spectacle

The peloton during the women's road race at the Tokyo Olympics
The peloton during the women's road race at the Tokyo Olympics
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Adam Becket
Adam Becket

News editor at Cycling Weekly, Adam brings his weekly opinion on the goings on at the upper echelons of our sport. This piece is part of The Leadout, a newsletter series from Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. As ever, email adam.becket@futurenet.com - should you wish to add anything, or suggest a topic.

Seasoned cycling viewers tuning into the Olympic road races this weekend may be in for a bit of a shock. Rather than the 170-plus peloton we’re used to, around 90 riders will line up in the men’s and women’s events in Paris. To be specific, the provisional start lists show 88 riders for the men’s race, and 95 for the women's. 

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Adam Becket
News editor

Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling on tarmac, he's happy. Before joining Cycling Weekly he spent two years writing for Procycling, where he interviewed riders and wrote about racing. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds. Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to cycling.