Tour de France champ Chris Froome took bronze. Thomas finished ninth in 1:14:52.85.
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Now, it is Froome is trying to pull off the rare double. And he will leave Rio much more satisfied than he did London four years ago, when Cancellara crashed out of the leading group late in the road race.
“I’m just grateful I came out here and I was healthy and I came through, ” Cancellara said. However, it was emphatically Cancellara’s day in Olympics men’s road cycling with the massive win and some gold hardware to hang on his neck.
Australia’s Richie Porte and Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali, both strong riders who could have found themselves in contention, had to withdraw due to injuries from Saturday’s road race.
Dumoulin finished second despite breaking his hand in the Tour de France last month. He jumped off the bike early during the road race so that he wouldn’t aggravate the injury and has pronounced himself ready to compete.
Dumoulin overcame a broken wrist in landing silver, while Cancellara repeated his victory he enjoyed in the same discipline at Beijing 2008.
“I wasn’t coming in thinking I was guaranteed a medal or anything”.
To win Le Tour, with its murderous, mountainous Alpine stages, and win an Olympic medal less than three weeks later is no mean achievement.
The course, featuring two laps of the undulating Grumari circuit, is also likely to see world champion Vasil Kiryienka struggle to challenge for gold. The Belgian Lotte Kopecky might be worth a punt after her solo breakaway in the road race, ditto Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini, ranked fifth in the world and the victor of a bronze medal on Sunday. Her selection to the team was not without some controversy, though, after she eschewed racing internationally to spend more time with her family.
“I had one goal today, and that was gold”.
Though riders had to overcome rain and high winds, the time trial course did not include Vista Chinesa, the harrowing climb and descent that caused several riders to crash during the men’s road race on Saturday.
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Froome said he performed to his best on the course, located on Rio’s southern coast. “Some prefer the other way round but I like this”.
