Dumoulin placed 47 seconds behind Cancellara to take the silver medal, with three-time Tour de France champion Froome claiming Britain’s first cycling medal of the 2016 Games with bronze at 1-02. And he will leave the quadrennial gathering much more satisfied than he did four years ago, when he crashed out of the leading group late in the London road race.
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“Everyone has their own choice of when they want to continue”.
“It’s quite special, it’s an unbelievable day after 16 years, in the last season before my retirement, to reach a gold medal”, said Cancellara.
“I’ve got no regrets today; I gave it everything I had”.
“Women’s cycling is different to men’s cycling – 16 years is 16 years”.
Four-time world champion Cancellara was riding in his final Olympics. “This was my big chance to win gold, but it wasn’t meant to be”.
“I knew the competition was going to be really tough here”. Since the end of the Tour de France I have been sort of tapering and trying to look after myself to come into these Olympic races the best I can.
“I can’ t be disappointed with that”.
O’Connor, 20, broke a British record and said she was “over the moon” with the result.
“Fabian was definitely the strongest rider out on the road today”, said the Briton. I’m happy. Another medal is an incredible achievement. The focus of my season was the Tour de France.
Australian Richie Porte, a former team mate of Froome and Thomas, and Italian Vincenzo Nibali were two of the casualties who will miss the time trial on the hilly Grumari circuit alongside Rio’s coastline. The focus of my season was the Tour de France and to come here and medal again for a second time is wonderful. The change was calm and quick, but the precious seconds that Dennis lost likely cost him a medal.
Cancellara, 35, appeared to descend on the wet, downhill sections faster than pre-race favourites Froome and Dumoulin, giving him a sizeable advantage.
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Diving duo Jack Laugher and Chris Mears and kayaker Joe Clarke powered Team GB to their second and third gold medals of 2016 after a stunning day in Rio. That allowed Cancellara to increase his overall lead to 32sec.
