Road Race, Individual, Men

The race was a mammoth time trial of over 315 km (196 miles) on the Mälaren Rundt course around Stockholm. The individual and team road race events were held concurrently, with the team event based on the times of the best four finishing individual riders for each team.

The riders were sent off at two minute intervals, with the last scheduled rider starting at 7 AM (0700). Of the 151 entrants only 123 riders eventually started. The individual event was won by Rudolph “Okey” Lewis of South Africa. He started quickly and led by 11½ minutes at 120 km. Increasing the lead to 17 minutes at 200 km., he slowed slightly coming in, but still won by almost nine minutes over Freddie Grubb of Great Britain. As the second starter, going off at 2:02 AM, he was the first overall finisher as well. Little is known about Lewis’ cycling career, even by South African experts. It was noted that the weather at the start time of 2 AM was cool, with no wind, which favored the very early starters. By 7 AM a strong westerly wind was blowing directly into the faces of the later starting riders. As the second starter, Lewis definitely benefited from his start position.

The previous record for the Mälaren Rundt was 11-22:07.0, set in 1909 by Henrik Morén of Sweden, a 10-time winner of the race, including nine consecutive wins from 1902-1910. In 1912 Morén also won the Swedish seletcing competition held on this track in 11-56:23. Lewis lowered the record by almost 41 minutes. No less than 16 riders, including Morén himself, in 15th place, bettered the previous record.

In addition to the Olympic medals, a Diploma of Merit was given to cyclists who finished within 25% of the winner’s time. As Lewis finished in 10-42:39, all riders under 13-23:18.8 qualified, and thus 81 of the 94 riders who finished received this special diploma.