The road race of the men at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul took place on 27 September 1988th
The 16.4 km long circuit in the north of the city was mostly flat and had to be driven a total of twelve times, resulting in a total distance of 196.8 km. This particularly benefited the sprinting strong Olaf Ludwig from the GDR. Jamolidin Abduschaparow from the Soviet Union, who was also a good sprinter, followed Ludwig, but had to let him go with Bernd Gröne from Germany. In the final sprint for gold, Ludwig won over Gröne, who won silver and his compatriot Christian Henn secured the bronze medal.