The mens road race is this Saturday and it is the longest single event in the Olympics, at least six hours on the road. The format of just 90 starters and small teams promises a lively race with many riders left to fend for themselves by the time the climbs of Montmartre begin.Mathieu van der Poel wants to add the Olympic rings to his rainbow bands but plenty can strike gold on this prestigious picture postcard circuit.The Course272.1km and 2,800m of vertical gain. Its out to the south-west of Paris and the first climb, labelled the Cte des Gardes is the steepest of the day, 16% at one point. Then its via Versailles and roads of the Yvelines familiar to the opening stage of Paris-Nice each year, but with few copycat sections. After passing the Saint Quentin velodrome the race visits the Chevreuse valley, well known to Parisian cyclists as these are some of the best roads within reach of the capital thanks to the small hills and woodland.None of the climbs in the first 200km are tricky or have traps, instead its the accumulation and twists and turns that will gradually fatigue. The last climb of the Pav des Gardes is the widest of all the climbs but the road tips up enough and goes on sufficiently to make things start to feel tough. Then its back downhill into Paris for a guided tour of many tourist landmarks from the Eiffel Tour, the Louvre, the Canal St. Martin to the Place du Tertre and going via many smaller places such as the Caf des Deux Moulins, famous for a scene in the Amlie film of 2001, and now on the main climb of the Paris circuit.There are three laps of an 18km urban course. Its got comparisons to the Glasgow worlds last year but that was more condensed in terms of climbing and cornering, in terms of worlds courses this feels a bit more like Leuven in 2021.The climb of the Butte Montmartre is the tactical focus point but its just over 1km with an average gradient of 6.5% which tops out at 9%, no Mount Olympus. Its cobbled with a mix of old stones and modern urban paving and its not wide, being at the front counts double as riders can chose the best line. Its got a narrow descent.Montmartre gets all the attention as the marked climb but the circuit has two other climbs, the Boulevard Srurier is as the name suggests, a big wide road and the Avenue Gambetta has another climb, but wide again.The FinishAfter the third time up the climb the race takes a different descent off Montmartre with wider roads and down to the river Seine to cross the Pont du Carousel, hook a right to follow the river, its flat from here on.With 400m to go a right hand bend and across the Pont dIena in front of the Eiffel tower. While some bridges have a hump this is flat leading to the line.The Scenario90 starters and no team has more than four riders. Why? Because its the Olympics where theres pressure to cap the number of competitors overall so having 180 for just one day is too much, and no big teams in order to accommodate riders from other countries. But this means roughly 20 riders who dont compete at the highest level and while its nice to see them taking to the start, the hard part for them will be featuring later. It means even fewer riders by the time the race reaches Paris and itll be harder to contain moves throughout.The Montmartre climb isnt hard by itself but with 250km done itll be a lot harder. The rest of the Paris circuit counts for plenty too, the big boulevards look easy with our reference points of large teams who can pull breaks back but think instead of Sanremo after the Poggio with tired riders without much support hesitant to follow each move. The large roads can almost make it easier to escape giving width to launch.The ContendersMathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) is the obvious pick, after a discreet Tour de France with some team work he won the Worlds last year, hes hoping for the same. Indeed the only concern is form after a quiet July. The smaller one is he hasnt reconned the Paris circuit and the last time he didnt study the Olympic details led to issues in Izu. At his best he can shape the race, picking the moment to make his move but he can also win a sprint from a group too. Hes only got two team mates, Dylan van Baarle as outsider but more likely a precious helper.If this course resembles the Leuven Worlds then Julian Alaphilippe (France) won there. He did ride the field off his wheel in the Czech Tour recently but repeating this in the Olympics is a much tougher ask and hes clearly less explosive these days. Christophe Laporte is the obvious counter as if Alaphilippe moves he can bide his time and if Alaphilippe cant get away then Laporte can cover moves and win from a small group.Fresh from winning the time trial, if we can say that after doing the Tour as well, Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) can take a flyer, its easy to see him carving a corner on the descent off Montmartre and riding away solo for the win like he did in for the worlds in Wollongong and hes a better sprinter these days, as in more crafty. Wout van Aert gives more depth to the team, especially after his revival result in the time trial but if hes coming to the finish can he win the sprint, hes got a great chance. Jasper Stuyven is also another card to play but the difficulty here is being able to make his own moves when he could be precious for his team mates.Mads Pedersen (Denmark) had to quit the Tour de France with a cracked shoulder, hardly the preparation hed choose and hed like an uphill sprint but a contender all the same.Marc Hirschi (Switzerland) is a late call up and a form pick after winning the Czech Tour. Hes adept at racking up non-World Tour wins but is this, to coin a phrase, non-selection bias as he wins when hes not having to race for others on the stacked UAE team? Or does going beyond 200km pose problems?Ben Healy (Ireland) is the breakaway pick in a race where teams are small to start with and will be reduced by the time the race returns to Paris. His EF team mate Alberto Bettiol (Italy) is a similar rider in method as a one-shot rider who likes to go solo. If someone does take a flyer who will be left to bring them back?Spain have a fun team with long shot sprinter Alex Aranburu, the cosmopolitan Juan Ayuso and classics contender Oier Lazkano but how to win? The same for the USA with Brandon McNulty, Matteo Jorgenson and Magnus Sheffield.Biniam Girmay (Eritrea) is more than a sprinter and can cope with the climbs today but hes racing alone which makes things harder. Jhonathan Narvaez (Ecuador) isnt a sprinter at all but can clean up from a small groupMichael Matthews (Australia) isnt winning so often these days but came so close in Sanremo so hes another shot at a long race. Talking of Sanremo, Matej Mohori (Slovenia) is an outsider for his ability to float away just when others are tired and watching each other. Corbin Strong (New Zealand) is a punchy sprinter who can handle the hills. Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) doubles up after the mountain bike title and with nothing to lose and plenty to gain as teams compete for his services.Van der PoelEvenepoelVan Aert, LaporteStuyven, Girmay, MohoriMatthews, Narvaez, Pidcock, Hirschi, AlaphilippeWeather: sunny and 26C. A 15km/h breeze from the west means a headwind for the final kilometres along the banks of the Seine.TV: KM0 is 11.10am CEST and the finish is forecast for 5.40pm. The race reaches Paris around 4.00pm.Its live from start to finish but coverage depends on your local broadcaster, they might just have a livestream on their website. Once youve found it the concern is the production and direction as the IOC has its in-house unit to supply the video and road cycling coverage at the Olympics has often lacked the basics like the KM to go caption or good direction.The post Mens Olympic Road Race Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.