Paolo Bettini, an Italian who focused his training on the Olympics instead of more prestigious races such as the Tour de France, won the gold medal Saturday in the men’s road race. Bettini, 30, needed an all-out sprint at the finish to pass Portugal’s Sergio Paulinho, who settled for the silver. Axel Merckx, son of legendary Tour de France rider Eddy Merckx, won bronze. The five-man American team led by Tyler Hamilton, still recovering from a back injury he suffered in the Tour, was left without a medal. Hamilton’s 18th place was the best. The heat was brutal, the turns tight, the air thick. Temperatures climbed as high as 104 degrees during the 139.4-mile race, which Bettini won in 5 hours 41 minutes 44 seconds. Riders tried putting bags of ice down their backs as they rode. Defending champion Jan Ullrich of Germany, who had said after his fourth-place finish in the Tour that he hoped to redeem himself in Athens, finished 19th.
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