The men's individual road race event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 24 July 2021 on a course starting at Musashinonomori Park in Tokyo, and ending at the Fuji Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture.

The men's race started at Musashinonomori Park in Chōfu, western Tokyo, at 11:00 Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) and finished at the Fuji Speedway circuit in the Shizuoka prefecture.

After reaching Lake Yamanakako in Yamanashi and crossing the Kagosaka Pass, the riders faced a 15-kilometre (9.3 mi) descent and from here, the courses were different for the men's and women's races.

After the climb, the race returned to Lake Yamanakako and the Kagosaka Pass before a final descent and a short hilly section towards the finish on the Fuji Speedway circuit.

The group comprised Nicholas Dlamini (South Africa), Michael Kukrle (Czech Republic), Juraj Sagan (Slovakia), Polychronis Tzortzakis (Greece), Eduard-Michael Grosu (Romania), Orluis Aular (Venezuela), Paul Daumont (Burkina Faso), and Elchin Asadov (Azerbaijan).

The break reached a maximum advantage of around 19 minutes before the peloton began its pursuit, with defending Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium) and Jan Tratnik (Slovenia), in particular, leading the chase.

On the gradual uphill section ahead of the climb to Doushi Road, Tristan de Lange (Namibia) attacked from the peloton but he was eventually caught.

With around 150 kilometres (93 mi) to go, a crash took place in the peloton, taking down the Great Britain duo of Geraint Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart as well as Giulio Ciccone (Italy) and Gregor Mühlberger (Austria).

Patrick Bevin (New Zealand) went to the front to help with the chase and the break's lead gradually decreased as the climb went on while further up the ascent, Van Avermaet began to get dropped along with several other riders.

After the first passage through the finish line, attacks lit up the peloton as Damiano Caruso (Italy), Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands), and Mauri Vansevenant (Belgium) rode away.

After the three riders were caught, Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) instigated another attack and brought Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) and Eddie Dunbar (Ireland) with him.

As the peloton reached the foot of the Mikuni Pass, Italy stationed themselves up front before Tiesj Benoot (Belgium) began to set a furious pace.

Brandon McNulty (United States) and Michael Woods (Canada) followed his move while Wout van Aert (Belgium) led the chase group.