Cycling at the 1924 Paris Summer Games:

The race started with 36 riders from 16 nations. On the 15th of 100 laps, the first crash occurred, which involved one of the favorites, Lucien Choury (FRA), who would later drop out at 40 km. with a flat tire. Poland’s Józef Lange took the lead at 15 km. and led alone for 10 km. Dutch rider Jan Maas served as a domestique for his teammate Ko Willems, as he tried to escape from the field five times in an effort to tire Willems’ opponents. By the last lap, only 14 riders remained at the head of the pack, with the final sprint coming down to Willems and Cyril Alden (GBR). Willems was clearly ahead of the pack 50 metres from the line and won easily while Alden won the silver medal by only a few centimeters over his teammate Frederick Wyld. Alden had also been silver medalist in this event in 1920 at Antwerpen.