SA’s Louis Meintjies loses out in dying kilometres of Olympic cycling road race

SA’s Louis Meintjies, a Tour de France top 10 finisher, had his hopes of an Olympic medal dashed with about 4km to go in the 256.6km men’s road race.

Belgian Greg van Avermaet took the gold in a dramatic finish that came down to a three-man tussle for the podium spots. Jakob Fuglsang of Denmark took silver and bronze went to Poland’s Rafal Majka.

Majka looked for a time a safe bet for the gold. Meintjies was in the group chasing him, but with about 4km to go, Fuglsang broke free of the chasing group and Van Avermaet followed him.

They soon caught Majka and the last couple of kilometres were a cat-and-mouse game.

Meintjies, whose debut Tour de France also included second place in the young rider standings, finished out of the medals but a respectable seventh.