Great Britain’s second competitor in the event, Geraint Thomas, clocked a time of 1:14:52.85 to finish in ninth place.
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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 chuffed to win another Olympic medal. After the disappointment of 2012 and all the ups and down, I knew this is my last season and the last chance to achieve something”, said Cancellera.
Wiggins has largely retired from road cycling and will instead chase gold with the men’s pursuit squad on the track.
Chris Froome, fresh off his 12th place finish in the road race, is a time trial favorite as well and is convinced he will be fully recovered by Wednesday.
He painfully tried to defend his time trial gold days later but finished seventh.
Instead his disappointing performance in Sunday’s road race, when he failed to pick up a medal, proved a sign of things to come.
“I’m just grateful I came out here and I was healthy and I came through, ” Cancellara said. But to reach the Olympic podium is something special, especially after the injury I had at the Tour de France.
Joe Clarke won Great Britain’s second gold medal of Rio 2016 by triumphing in the men’s K1 canoe slalom final.
The battle for men’s all-round supremacy will see the spotlight firmly on Japan’s charismatic reigning world and Olympic champion Kohei Uchimura. Her selection to the team was not without some controversy, though, after she eschewed racing internationally to spend more time with her family.
“Like many PhDs it was ridiculously specific and by the time I finished it, totally out of date and really boring, but I had to finish it”. “So yeah, if I were to pull off a third gold then that would be history. I mean, come on, Bonnie Blair”.
With rain and strong winds lashing Rio, Armstrong, who turns 43 on Thursday, produced a courageous display in treacherous conditions to claim her third consecutive women´s time trial gold medal.
After some choppy waters played havoc with the schedule, we get to the first finals of the rowing on the lake at Lagoa Stadium, including men’s and women’s quadruple sculls (from 5.10pm).
Froome said he could have no complaints about the result.
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The 30-year-old briefly led the trial having started ahead of numerous race’s favourites, riding with typical heart and determination to finish with a time of 1:14:52, good enough for a top 10 finish.
