Fabian Cancellara clinched gold while Tom Dumoulin claimed silver.
Advertisement
Australia’s Rohan Dennis also has to be taken into consideration – he has won an individual time trial at the Tour de France, the national time trial championships and held the world hour record.
The Swiss rider powered on through the final, flat few kilometres to finish in 1.12.15 – more than a minute quicker than Castroviejo. Fabian was clearly the strongest guy on the road.
Thomas will join Chris Froome in the time-trial after Vincenzo Nibali suffered double collarbone fractures, Richie Porte fractured a scapula, and Wout Poels injured his elbow in falls on the same slopes as the Brit. “I didn’t feel fresh or on it really”, he said.
Froome became the first cyclist to defend in his TDF title and is hoping to add a Gold medal to his successful career. It was a big scream on the podium. The 2016 Tour de France victor finished second and first on the Tour’s two individual time trials respectively. Of course, I would have wanted to be up there fighting for the gold medal, but at the end of the day, I gave it everything I had and I have got no regrets.
Team GB’s Chris Froome insists that he is not disappointed at having to settle for a bronze medal at Rio 2016. This will not give me any doubts about this – my retirement continues.
Dumoulin overcame a broken wrist in landing silver, while Cancellara repeated his victory he enjoyed in the same discipline at Beijing 2008.
Christopher Froome, of Great Britain, left, races Daniel Martin, of Ireland, right, to the finish line in the last 250m of the men’s cycling road race final along Copacabana beach at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016.
“I don´t have words to describe it. Just to be at the Olympics is really special, but to come away with another medal is even more special”. Whether I’m better than anyone else on it is a different matter.
Others were not amused about her presence in the wake of allegations of widespread and state-sponsored doping in Russian Federation.
Her victory spared the blushes of organisers, relegating drug-tainted Russian cyclist Olga Zabelinskaya – who only returned from a doping ban past year – into silver.
Zabalinskaya was banned for a doping offence in 2014 but protested her innocence on Wednesday, stating “I am clean” and that she could not have taking in forbidden substances because she was breast-feeding her third child at the time.
Anna van der Breggen, the newly crowned Olympic road champion, is expected to challenges as is Dutch compatriot Ellen van Dijk.
Advertisement
Cycling, swimming and gymnastics all feature at the Olympic Games on Wednesday, August 10, while The National senior sports editor Matt Smith takes you through the action in Rio on Day 5.
