Paris 2024: Ben Healy falls just short in battle for bronze

Ben Healy came up short in a battle for bronze after a gutsy display in the men's 273km road race won by Belgium's Remco Evenepoel, with Frenchman Valentin Madouas taking silver.

It was a superb ride from Healy, who led on his own for a period before being caught with less than 30km remaining as the race entered the circuits of Paris.

He crossed the finish line 10th, where he was in a group contending for bronze, but with 500m to go was unable to stick with the sprint as Christophe Laporte gave the home supporters more to cheer about by snatching third.

Healy’s 10th position is Ireland’s best-ever finish in the event, 1:16 down on Evenepoel.

Irish team-mate Ryan Mullen, who also impressed in Paris, finished 60th, almost 17 minutes down.

Midway through the race, Mullen was part of a chasing group that caught the breakaway, before moving to the front of the race as the peloton seemed content to entertain the breaks.

It was a dramatic victory for Evenepoel, who made it a double after his Olympic time-trial gold.

The 24-year-old suffered a mechanical less than 4km from the finish, raising his arm for assistance before clapping and waving at his team to deliver a new bike in a scene of sheer panic.

The change was made swiftly, however, and he powered to the line after he had made the decisive move 15km from the finish, in the run-in to the second of three punishing ascents of the Butte Montmartre.

His brutal attack left Valentin Madouas, who was hovering 1:15 behind when Evenepoel's incident occurred, gasping for air but the Frenchman hung on to take silver after 273km.

Evenepoel raised his arm again in the final kilometre but this time it was a pre-celebration before stepping off his bike as he crossed the line for a photo with the