LA28 Olympic Road Race: Why Sprinters Won’t Like the Hollywood Finish

LA28 organizers finally revealed where the Olympic Games road racing medals will be decided in 2028, and the ending is pure Hollywood.

The men’s and women’s road races will finish at Griffith Observatory, perched in the Hollywood Hills beneath the iconic Hollywood Sign, officials confirmed.

One thing is already clear — this won’t be a race for the pure sprinters.

From the start at Venice Beach, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games road races will cut across a postcard version of Southern California.

Exactly how riders get there remains a mystery. Full course details won’t be unveiled until later this year.

For cycling fans planning ahead, here’s what we know so far.

Hollywood ending

Paris had the Eiffel Tower. Los Angeles counters with palm trees, movie-set scenery, and a legitimate climb to the Olympic finish line.

Griffith Observatory sits at 1,134 feet on the slopes of Mount Hollywood. It’s one of Southern California’s most recognizable landmarks, featured in everything from Rebel Without a Cause to La La Land.

What’s most interesting is that the movie-set ending all but rules out a bunch sprint finale.

The finishing climb runs 3.8km at an average grade of 4.9 percent, with ramps as steep as 8 percent. It’s no Mur de Huy, but steep enough to pinch and send some of the pure sprinters out the back.

With that kind of finish, think Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert trading attacks, maybe with a few North Americans in the mix. What’s more Hollywood than that?

On the women’s side, Kristen Faulkner will arrive as defending champion after her solo attack to win gold in Paris. Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky, and a host of others will want their own blockbuster ending.

LA 28: What we know so far

Both road races will start at Venice Beach and finish at Griffith Observatory, roughly 30 miles apart.

Imagine surfboards, Muscle Beach, palm trees, the Hollywood Sign, and the sprawling madness of Los Angeles. The Olympic peloton is getting the full Southern California experience.

Former pro Phil Gaimon, who correctly predicted the Griffith Observatory finish earlier this year, outlined a route heading north from Santa Monica into Malibu, tackling what could be race-breaking multiple ascents of the famed Rock Store climb (4km at 6.6% at 10% max) before snaking across the Hollywood Hills toward the Observatory.

If anything close to that holds, this won’t be a race for the sprinters.

LA28 officials also confirmed the official distances, at 150km for the women’s race and 250km for the men’s.

Full route details, elevation profiles, and circuit information are expected before the end of 2026.

The dates

The Olympic time trials will start at the LA Zoo inside Griffith Park and also finish at the Observatory.

Here are the scheduled dates:

Time trials: July 19, 2028

Women’s road race: July 22, 2028

Men’s road race: July 23, 2028