Exclusive Paris 2024 Olympic Bike Course preview

Hey everyone, I'm Tommy Zafiris. We're here in Paris for the Paris 2024 Olympic test event. We're going to give you a glimpse into the bike course for the Olympic Games. All right, so we're now on our second lap of the Paris 2024 Olympic bike course. We did one lap earlier, check it out, and now we're going a second lap. I'm going to go a bit faster, see if we can take the turns a little bit more at speed. It won't be race pace. I want to still be able to talk, so I don't want to be breathing too hard, but I'm going to go a bit quicker. So you leave transition, hit some cobbles, there are some big potholes, and then perfectly pave back to cobbles with some big chunks. But yeah, these turns are good. On the cobbles right now, dry. Yeah, you can take those turns quite quickly. For this section, it's really hard to find an actual path of just smooth road. So across, it's about, I would say two and a half lanes wide, and across the two and a half lanes, there's not really a good place to ride. So everybody is going to be kind of choosing their own line, figuring out where they feel is the best. But so far, what I've been able to ride on is not, there's not really any good place. I'm looking around, you'll follow one line, and then it leads to some big chunks that are missing. Follow another line, that looks good. Same thing leads to some chunks that are missing. So yeah, not really a great thing. All right, U-turn on the cobbles. There are some chunks and cracks. That U-turn, when you're going at speed, is going to be, I would say, a little bit precarious. You're some big bumps and big cracks, and some loose cobbles, it felt like. So same thing on this section. It's a little bit of bump that it's hard to find proper lane. And right now, I'm pedaling through these corners. When the athletes are going at race pace, they probably won't be able to pedal through that. But right now, I'm only going 36Ks an hour. They'll be going 46Ks or more during the race, so slightly different. So we have another left turn coming up. This left turn is one of six major turns, and it goes from paved to cobbles, and then back to paved. So that could be interesting as well. It didn't feel too much of a difference making that turn, where you went from smooth to cobbles, because the cobbles here on this section are not too crazy. But it is still quite bumpy, so you will have to be hyper aware of your line that you're taking through that corner. Yeah, this whole section looks like normal road, but I think it's even bumpier than the cobble section, honestly. So yeah, have to have some strength and power to maintain speed across this section. And then, boy, it feels good when you make that transition from the cobbles back to the pavement. There's a couple sewer grates on the course, but they're really not going to affect anything. You can ride right over them. That turn is really nice, because it starts out pretty narrow and sharp, but then at the end, when you're able to exit, it's quite wide. So you can maintain a lot of speed through that if you take the right line. Yeah, the wind through here is quite wild, because all the buildings, it doesn't matter which direction that the wind is flowing from. You can see the flags, they'll be blowing one certain direction, and then it'll be the opposite direction that you'll feel the wind, just because how it's reflecting off the buildings, how it's flowing through the city. So super wide, we just passed transition, heading back out the opposite end of the course. It's three lanes wide, and it goes to two lanes. They have one lane dedicated for the media motos. So during the race, all the athletes will be riding in this stretch where it's two lanes wide, and the media moto will be to the right and have their own lane so that they won't affect the race. It's really cool that they're doing that for a significant portion of the course as well. So you still get all the awesome shots, still be able to see what's going on in the race, follow along, but without having any of the motos potentially taint any racing dynamics. So from here, this is probably the most significant pinch point of the whole course. Goes from two lanes, and then in about 10 meters, goes to one lane, and has a curb and a wall on the left. So it's not like it's going from two lanes to one lane with cones, and you can kind of like skirt around it a little bit, or if something goes wrong, just in case, it's like you don't have anywhere to go. Curb and a wall, so everyone's going to have to have good positioning before that point. Hopefully everyone races safely at that point. So this turn, I would consider it more of a like a roundabout rather than a 90 degree turn. You can kind of flow through that one. Through this section on the first lap, felt the same. It's a direct headwind, but it's funny because the flags are blowing the same direction that I'm going, but I just feel the wind blowing directly in my face, and that's just due to all the buildings and how it's capturing the wind that is blowing and funneling it. So we'll see what happens on race day. They race around this time, around 8am, so I don't imagine it's going to be too crazy with wind, and that left 90 degree turn, you can take that one fast because it's slightly on the uphill rise, so it's not really going to affect much in terms of having to brake, and it's perfectly paved. So this is the section that is going to be the fastest point of the race. Once they get on this section, slightly downhill, and right now I'm riding hard, but not race pace, not even close, and I'm going 41k's an hour. So on race day, surely they'll be going above 50, I would imagine. And this section, because it's so wide, perfectly paved, they're going to be able to work together really well, get organized, look around and talk to each other, get some water and nutrition in, just because you don't have to worry about any bumps, any corners, any turns, or even if someone gets a little squirrely in front of you, plenty of space on both sides. So yeah, it's pretty cool. Good section of road. Same thing on here. On the course maps, this may look like a turn, but I would not consider this a turn. You can just ride straight, continue to push power, you don't have to worry about anything. So this last, man, it's probably 800 meters. Really nice section. Really, really nice. And so now we're headed back in towards transition. You make one more right turn, 90 degree turn. This one's a little bit more narrow leading back onto the bridge, but you can still maintain a good amount of speed going through there. And then that is the end of the lap. 5.7k is each loop. They'll do seven laps. And that's the Olympic bike course.