Ben Healy came up short in a battle for bronze after a gutsy display in the men's 273km road race won by Belgium's Remco Evenepoel, with Frenchman Valentin Madouas taking silver.
It was a superb ride from Healy, who led on his own for a period before being caught with less than 30km remaining as the race entered the circuits of Paris.
He crossed the finish line 10th, where he was in a group contending for bronze, but with 500m to go was unable to stick with the sprint as Christophe Laporte gave the home supporters more to cheer about by snatching third.
Healy’s 10th position is Ireland’s best-ever finish in the event, 1:16 down on Evenepoel.
Irish team-mate Ryan Mullen, who also impressed in Paris, finished 60th, almost 17 minutes down.
Healy and Ryan combined to form an impressive attacking duo.
Just 70km in to the 272.1km race, Mullen went on the attack with three other riders, and bridged to the leaders who were eventually distanced by the power of the Irish rider.
Healy counter attacked in typically forthright style from the main peloton alongside Alexiy Lutsenko with 92km remaining. After joining Mullen up front with 76km to go, who notably emptied the tank to put Healy in with a shout, Mullen dropped back 10km later, and Healy pressed on with the Kazak rider in tow.
Healy was joined by a quality chase group and remained in a lead break of three inside the last 30km when eventual race winner Remco Evenepoel and silver medal winner Valentin Madouas pressed on.
"I did what I could and played my cards the best way I knew how to, which gave me the best opportunity of trying to go for a medal," Healy said afterwards.
"I'm super proud of the performance and the team. I’ve got to be happy with that. Maybe if I had a little more in the tank I could’ve been close to a medal, but top ten is something to be proud of."
It was a dramatic victory for Evenepoel, who made it a double after his Olympic time-trial gold.
The 24-year-old suffered a mechanical less than 4km from the finish, raising his arm for assistance before clapping and waving at his team to deliver a new bike in a scene of sheer panic.
The change was made swiftly, however, and he powered to the line after he had made the decisive move 15km from the finish, in the run-in to the second of three punishing ascents of the Butte Montmartre.
His brutal attack left Valentin Madouas, who was hovering 1:15 behind when Evenepoel's incident occurred, gasping for air but the Frenchman hung on to take silver after 273km.
Evenepoel raised his arm again in the final kilometre but this time it was a pre-celebration before stepping off his bike as he crossed the line for a photo with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
Additional reporting: Reuters
