| | Event type

Road Race, Men

Date	7 September 1972 — 10:00
Status	Olympic
Location	Rundkurs Grünwald, Grünwald
Participants	163 from 48 countries
Format	200 km. (124.2 miles) mass start race.

The favorite was the Belgian Freddy Maertens, who had been runner-up at the 1971 World Championships, and had won 22 races in 1971 and 28 in 1972. The 1971 World Champion, Régis Ovion was also present in München. The course was a relatively easy and flat one. A group of some 35 riders got away on the sixth lap. Over the last lap, the Dutchman Hennie Kuiper was able to go off the front of the breakaway and eventually won by 27 seconds. The third-placed rider was Jaime Huélamo, but he was disqualified after a positive doping test for Coramine, a stimulant. Because fourth-place finisher Bruce Biddle was not tested for drugs, no bronze medal was awarded. Maertens finished 13th and Ovion 15th. The race was marred by the presence of four cyclists from the Irish Republican Army, who jumped into the field to protest the Irish riders competing against cyclists from Northern Ireland (who competed for Great Britain). They were arrested but were later released.

Hennie Kuiper had an excellent, and very long, career as a pro, winning the World Championships (1975), Paris-Roubaix (1983), the Giro di Lombardia (1981), Milan-San Remo (1985), the Tour de Suisse (1976), and the Ronde de Vlaanderen (1981), as well as twice finishing second at the Tour de France (1977, 1980).

Pos	Competitor	NOC	Time	Margin
1	Hennie Kuiper	NED	4-14:37	–	Gold
2	Clyde Sefton	AUS	–	at 0:27	Silver
3		UNK	–	–		1
4	Bruce Biddle	NZL	–	at 0:27
5	Phil Bayton	GBR	–	at 0:30
6	Phil Edwards	GBR	–	at 0:30
7	Wilfried Trott	FRG	–	at 0:30
8	Francesco Moser	ITA	–	at 0:36
9	Miguel Samacá	COL	–	at 0:36
10	Jesús Sarabia	MEX	–	at 0:36
11	Piet van Katwijk	NED	–	at 0:36
12	Cees Priem	NED	–	at 0:36
13	Freddy Maertens	BEL	–	at 0:36
14	Roman Humenberger	AUT	–	at 0:36
15	Régis Ovion	FRA	–	at 0:36
16	Javier Elorriaga	ESP	–	at 0:36
17	Tore Milsett	NOR	–	at 0:36
18	Jiří Prchal	TCH	–	at 0:36
19	Bruno Hubschmid	SUI	–	at 0:36
20	Iwan Schmid	SUI	–	at 0:36
21	Jørgen Marcussen	DEN	–	at 0:36
22	Erwin Tischler	FRG	–	at 0:36
23	András Takács	HUN	–	at 0:36
24	Ueli Sutter	SUI	–	at 0:36
25	Fedor den Hertog	NED	–	at 0:36
26	Fernando Cruz	COL	–	at 0:36
27	Erny Kirchen	LUX	–	at 0:36
28	Ove Jensen	DEN	–	at 0:36
29	Graeme Jose	AUS	–	at 0:44
30	Karl-Heinz Oberfranz	GDR	–	at 2:32.0
31	Ryszard Szurkowski	POL	–	at 2:32.0
32	John Trevorrow	AUS	–	at 2:32.0
33	Wolfgang Wesemann	GDR	–	at 2:32.0
34	Valery Likhachov	URS	–	at 2:32.0
35	Anatoly Starkov	URS	–	at 2:32.0
36	Lucjan Lis	POL	–	at 2:32.0
37	José Viejo	ESP	–	at 2:32.0
38	Liam Horner	IRL	–	at 2:32.0
39	Bernard Bourreau	FRA	–	at 2:32.0
40	Kieron McQuaid	IRL	–	at 2:32.0
41	Jiří Háva	TCH	–	at 2:32.0
42	Lennart Fagerlund	SWE	–	at 2:32.0
43	Radoš Čubrić	YUG	–	at 2:32.0
44	Sven-Åke Nilsson	SWE	–	at 2:32.0
45	Staf Hermans	BEL	–	at 2:32.0
46	Johann Summer	AUT	–	at 2:32.0
47	Petr Matoušek	TCH	–	at 2:32.0
48	Henning Jørgensen	DEN	–	at 2:32.0
49	Walter Riccomi	ITA	–	at 2:32.0
50	Paul Brydon	NZL	–	at 2:32.0
51	Jože Valenčič	YUG	–	at 2:32.0
52	Brian Chewter	CAN	–	at 2:32.0
53	Tekeste Woldu	ETH	–	at 2:32.0
54	Tomás Nistal	ESP	–	at 2:32.0
55	Wolfgang Steinmayr	AUT	–	at 2:32.0
56	Lucien Didier	LUX	–	at 2:32.0
57	Alfred Gaida	FRG	–	at 2:32.0
58	Donald Allan	AUS	–	at 2:32.0
59	Lucien De Brauwere	BEL	–	at 2:32.0
60	Teodor Vasile	ROU	–	at 2:32.0
61	John Howard	USA	–	at 2:32.0
62	Tom Morris	CAN	–	at 2:32.0
63	John Allis	USA	–	at 2:32.0
64	Tibor Debreceni	HUN	–	at 2:32.0
65	Marcel Duchemin	FRA	–	at 2:32.0
66	Juan Morales	COL	–	at 2:32.0
67	Imre Géra	HUN	–	at 2:32.0
68	Peter Weibel	FRG	–	at 2:32.0
69	Peter Doyle	IRL	–	at 2:32.0
70	Thorleif Andresen	NOR	–	at 2:32.0
71	Rudolf Mitteregger	AUT	–	at 2:32.0
72	Gilles Durand	CAN	–	at 2:36.0
73	Ali Hüryılmaz	TUR	–	at 2:36.0
74	Walter Tardáguila	URU	–	at 2:51.0
75	Gregorio Aldo Arencibia	CUB	–	at 4:17.0
76	Stanisław Szozda	POL	–	at 6:04.0
DNF	Rissom Gebre Meskei	ETH	–	–
DNF	Fisihasion Ghebreyesus	ETH	–	–
DNF	Ivan Trifonov	URS	–	–
DNF	Miguel Silva Neto	BRA	–	–
DNF	José Prieto	CUB	–	–
DNF	Pedro Rodríguez	CUB	–	–
DNF	Raúl Marcelo Vázquez	CUB	–	–
DNF	Noel Teggart	IRL	–	–
DNF	Dave Lloyd	GBR	–	–
DNF	Daniele Cesaretti	SMR	–	–
DNF	Jean Bernard Djambou	CMR	–	–
DNF	Roberto Breppe	ARG	–	–
DNF	Wolfram Kühn	GDR	–	–
DNF	Mario Margalef	URU	–	–
DNF	Alberto Rodríguez	URU	–	–
DNF	Jorge Jukich	URU	–	–
DNF	Paul Kind	LIE	–	–
DNF	Vern Hanaray	NZL	–	–
DNF	Hugo Schär	SUI	–	–
DNF	Grimon Langson	MAW	–	–
DNF	Jan Smyrak	POL	–	–
DNF	Sataporn Kantasa-Ard	THA	–	–
DNF	Sivaporn Ratanapool	THA	–	–
DNF	Pramote Sangskulrote	THA	–	–
DNF	Panya Singprayool	THA	–	–
DNF	Abdul Bahar-ud-Din Rahum	MAS	–	–
DNF	Daud Ibrahim	MAS	–	–
DNF	Saad Fadzil	MAS	–	–
DNF	Omar Saad	MAS	–	–
DNF	Harry Hannus	FIN	–	–
DNF	Mauno Uusivirta	FIN	–	–
DNF	Tapani Vuorenhela	FIN	–	–
DNF	Ole Wackström	FIN	–	–
DNF	Mevlüt Bora	TUR	–	–
DNF	Rıfat Çalışkan	TUR	–	–
DNF	Haluk Günözgen	TUR	–	–
DNF	Fabio Acevedo	COL	–	–
DNF	Orlando Bates	BAR	–	–
DNF	Dieter Gonschorek	GDR	–	–
DNF	Arve Haugen	NOR	–	–
DNF	Jan Henriksen	NOR	–	–
DNF	Suleman Abdul Rahman	ETH	–	–
DNF	Pat Gellineau	TTO	–	–
DNF	Clive Saney	TTO	–	–
DNF	Anthony Sellier	TTO	–	–
DNF	Vernon Stauble	TTO	–	–
DNF	Lindsay Gauld	CAN	–	–
DNF	Tarek Abou Al Dahab	LBN	–	–
DNF	Eigil Sørensen	DEN	–	–
DNF	Hector Edwards	BAR	–	–
DNF	Joseph Evouna	CMR	–	–
DNF	Eugen Pleško	YUG	–	–
DNF	Alois Holík	TCH	–	–
DNF	Janez Zakotnik	YUG	–	–
DNF	Robert Oliver	NZL	–	–
DNF	Nicolas Owona	CMR	–	–
DNF	Joseph Kono	CMR	–	–
DNF	Frans Van Looy	BEL	–	–
DNF	John Clewarth	GBR	–	–
DNF	Franco Ongarato	ITA	–	–
DNF	Aldo Parecchini	ITA	–	–
DNF	József Peterman	HUN	–	–
DNF	Gbedikpe Emmanuel Amouzou	TOG	–	–
DNF	Charles Leodo	TOG	–	–
DNF	Tompson Mensah	TOG	–	–
DNF	Maximo Junta	PHI	–	–
DNF	Agustín Alcántara	MEX	–	–
DNF	Francisco Huerta	MEX	–	–
DNF	Emile Waldteufel	USA	–	–
DNF	Francisco Vázquez	MEX	–	–
DNF	Robert Schneider	USA	–	–
DNF	Luiz Carlos Flores	BRA	–	–
DNF	Bernt Johansson	SWE	–	–
DNF	Leif Hansson	SWE	–	–
DNF	Enrique Ayllón	PER	–	–
DNF	Gilberto Chocce	PER	–	–
DNF	Fernando Cuenca	PER	–	–
DNF	Carlos Espinoza	PER	–	–
DNF	Howard Fenton	JAM	–	–
DNF	Radcliffe Lawrence	JAM	–	–
DNF	Michael Lecky	JAM	–	–
DNF	Xavier Mirander	JAM	–	–
DNF	Valery Yardy	URS	–	–
DNF	Kensley Reece	BAR	–	–
DNF	Raymond Martin	FRA	–	–
DNF	Raphael Kazembe	MAW	–	–
DNF	Shue Ming-Fa	TPE	–	–
DQ	Jaime Huélamo	ESP	[at 0:27]	–		2