The 1900 Summer Olympics were held as part of the 1900 World's Fair, during which several cycling events were contested. Two of those cycling events are nowadays considered Olympic events by the International Olympic Committee. These two competitions were held between 9 September and 16 September 1900. The cycling part of the World's fair included 250 competitors, 160 of them French; in the two Olympic events, 72 competitors, all men, from six nations competed.
In the first two rounds of the 2000 metre sprint, the United States and Italy made their cycling debuts, as did the Olympic-debut nations Belgium and Bohemia. Germany, which had won a silver medal four years earlier, and France, with 4 golds, a silver, and a bronze, were the returning nations.
Bohemia's lone cyclist was eliminated in the first round. The Belgian cyclist was eliminated in the second round of the day, the quarterfinals. Germany's trio fared no better, with all having dropped out by the end of the day. Antonio Restelli was the only one of Italy's 7 to move on. He was joined by the sole American John Henry Lake and by 7 Frenchmen.
The semifinals and the final of the sprint were held on the 13th.
The semifinal round pared the 9 remaining cyclists down to 3, with the winners of each of the semifinals guaranteed a medal in the three-man final. Restelli took second place to Fernand Sanz, dropping Italy from contention. Lake won his semifinal, joining Sanz and Georges Taillandier in the final.
Taillandier and Sanz reaffirmed French dominance of the sport, taking the top two spots in the final. Lake took the United States' first medal in cycling, the only one to be won by anyone other than a French cyclist in 1900.
The 25 kilometres was held on the 15th. Frenches Louis Bastien and Louis Hildebrand, and American Lake were the primary contenders, with Bastien the favorite. Lake was unable to keep pace with Hildebrand, however, and dropped out of the race. Bastien won, followed by Hildebrand and Auguste Daumain. Future Tour de France winner Louis Trousselier was among the rest of the pack.
A total of 72 cyclists from 7 nations competed at the two Olympic cycling events during the Paris Games:
Belgium (1)
Bohemia (1)
France (58)
Germany (3)
Great Britain (1)
Italy (7)
United States (1)
In 1900, there was no official distinction between Olympic events and non-Olympic events held during the Exposition Universelle (1900). Most events were open for all cyclists. Only the events restricted to amateurs are nowadays seen as Olympic events. Other events were:
Points race (Winner: Enrico Brusoni, Italy)
50 kilometres
Tandems
Inter-rêgionale
100 miles (winner: Taylor, France)
Sprint for professionals (winner: Meyers, Belgium)
100 kilometers (winner: Chase, England)
Course des Nations (winner: American team)
Handicap
Amateurs handicap
Amateur points race
Individual pursuit
Bol d'Or (Winner: Mathieu Cordang, Netherlands)
The points race, won by Enrico Brusoni, is considered by Sports-Reference as a third Olympic cycling event in 1900.
