The men's individual road race at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, was held on 30 August 1960.

It replaced the individual time trial event that had been held from 1912 to 1932 (and which would be reintroduced alongside the road race in 1996).

The Danish riders entered in the individual event withdrew after the death of Knud Enemark Jensen in the team time trial.

The British West Indies, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and Tunisia each made their debut in the men's individual road race; East and West Germany competed as the United Team of Germany.

Kapitonov successfully repeated his sprint to beat Trapè, and the chase pack ultimately did not come within 20 seconds of the pair.

Further, the finish-line judge left to have lunch and the placement of the finishers is suspect based on photographs and personal reports from the cyclists.