Alexey Lutsenko completes a splendid double at the Asian Games 2026 by conquering, after the time trial, also the elite men's road race. The strong thirty-four-year-old from NSN imposed himself decisively at the finish line in Shinshiro (the venue chosen for the road cycling races of this edition of the Asian Games organized by Japan), crossing the line with an advantage of 1'58" over his teammate Yevgeniy Fedorov and 2'40" over the home favorite Yuhi Todome.

Lutsenko has thus brought to five the number of gold medals won in his career at the Asian Games, a quadrennial competition that had already seen him achieve the double road race-time trial victory in the 2018 edition and triumph against the clock in 2023.

"The Asian Games, like the Olympics, take place every four years and I prepared meticulously for this competition, doing everything possible to arrive in top form and, in the end, I managed to bring two medals to my country and that is the most important thing" declared the native of Petropavl after crossing the finish line, reaching 43 professional victories in his career with today's success.

"I am no longer young, time is taking its course. In cycling today, greater attention is paid to emerging new generations and young riders who achieve excellent results from a very young age. However, I am pleased that the Federation believed in me and gave me this opportunity: I have fully repaid their trust" continued Lutsenko who, with the golds earned in recent days, bid farewell in the best possible way to a competition that has given much to both him and his country.

"I have won five gold medals at the Asian Games, two in this edition and, moreover, Yevgeny finished second today. I think it was truly the maximum we could do for Kazakhstan. In the end, we achieved more than we had anticipated" concluded the former Israel and Astana rider, the spearhead of a national team that, limiting the discussion to road cycling, played the leading role by winning all the races on the program except for the women's road race where, with the victory of Chinese Guo ahead of Afghan Hashimi and Hong Kong's Leung, Kazakhstan did not even manage to reach the podium.

FINAL RESULTS

1. Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan) 4:13:11

2. Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kazakhstan) at 1:58

3. Yuhi Todome (Japan) at 2:40

4. Jambaljamts Sainbayar (Mongolia) at 3:43

5. Haoyu Su (China) at 3:44

6. Sohei Kaneko (Japan) at 6:16

7. Nicolas Vinokurov (Kazakhstan) at 6:16

8. Euro Kim (South Korea) at 7:06

9. Jaebin Yun (South Korea) at 7:06

10. Tegshbayar Batsaikhan (Mongolia) at 7:33

ASIAN GAMES ROAD CYCLING MEDAL TABLE

1. Kazakhstan (3 golds, 1 silver)

2. China (1 gold, 1 silver)

3. Japan (1 silver, 1 bronze)

4. Afghanistan (1 silver)

5. Hong Kong (1 bronze)

6. Mongolia (1 bronze)

7. South Korea (1 bronze)

Photo credit: Vladislav Semenov