Cycling at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games:

This was the first time that the cycling road race was conducted as a mass start event. The race started and at 8 AM at the North Curve of the Avus motor racing circuit, with the finish line drawn there as well. The course was an out-and-back one over relatively flat roads, and it was not difficult enough to break apart most of the peleton. There were a number of crashes during the race. Many riders used the innovative three-speed bikes, but several of the Peruvian riders had trouble controlling their bikes with these and caused at least one major crash. Some 40 riders sprinted for victory in the final metres, with France’s Robert Charpentier defeating his countryman Guy Lapébie by a bike length. They led the French team to an easy victory in the team road race. Behind them, the German officials had trouble placing the remaining cyclists, and a large group of cyclists was placed in 16th position. There was another large crash only a few yards from the finish line, which took down about 20 riders, several of whom could not finish.

Charpentier had been runner-up at the 1935 World Championships. He turned professional but with little success, and his career was interrupted by World War II. Lapébie fared better as a pro, finishing third in the 1948 Tour de France, and competing thru 1952. His older brother, Roger Lapébie, was a well-known pro, and won the 1937 Tour de France.

The 1936 Official Report does not list any riders as did not finish, but it appears several of the riders did not complete the course. We have been able to find information on some of these from other sources, but it is possible that some of the riders we list as having finished did not actually complete the course.