“I thought if it goes to plan I could come away with a medal but to be Olympic champion it is something you dream about”.
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Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland won the men’s individual time trial road cycling race at the Rio Olympic Games in a rainy and windy day here on Wednesday.
Great Britain’s Chris Froome won bronze in the Olympic time trial.
Just a couple of hours previously, cyclist Chris Froome hailed his “amazing summer” as he clinched an Olympic bronze medal less than three weeks after winning the Tour de France.
The Swiss 35-year-old, who claimed gold in the time trial at Beijing 2008 but crashed out in London, ensured he would bow out on a high by topping the podium in Rio.
Tour de France victor Froome was a further 15 seconds behind, but battled hard in adverse conditions to pip Spain’s Jonathan Castroviejo to bronze by only four seconds. I can’t be disappointed, especially after the season I’ve had. I gave it everything I had. “I was absolutely dead by the finish line. Maybe if I had lost by only five or 10 seconds, I’d have been questioning if I could have gone faster, but he was more than a minute clear of me”.
“It’s been an fantastic summer”. I have not done any big training rides since I left the Tour.
“I wasn’t going to be making up a minute on Fabian”, Froome said. “It’s been fine the last few days”.
Froome, who is not one to hide behind excuses, insisted there was no illness. To medal is something special. I knew I was capable but to put down that run in the Olympic final, it is a dream come true. “I have so many awesome memories of this sport and this just tops all of them in one day”.
Froome reckons Cancellara’s success was a result of digging deep for one last time.
But Cancellara, in his final season and victor of Olympic gold in Beijing eight years ago, had other ideas. “Congrats to him. He nailed it”.
He is now expecting to start the year’s third and final Grand Tour, the Vuelta a Espana, on August 20, after having it on his Team Sky schedule since the beginning of the year. I should get a good training ride tomorrow, keep the body ticking over. I might do a few more laps of the TT circuit. “It seems to be the best route around here”.
As the second half of riders were finishing their race, Geraint Thomas was the first to do so in 1:14:52.
America’s Kristin Armstrong, 43 on Thursday, completed a hat-trick of Olympic titles, edging out convicted Russian doping cheat Olga Zabelinskaya into silver. “It means so much to me”, said Cancellara. “After missing out on gold in London and all the ups and downs I’ve had since then, this is just unbelievable to win the gold today”, he said.
The rider nicknamed “Spartacus”, who retires this year, posted a lung-bursting time of 1hr 12min 15.42sec on the 35-mile course in damp conditions, and the rest of the field simply couldn’t live with him.
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“There are just no words to explain”. This was the ideal way to bow out for the Swiss who come the end of the season is hanging up his bike and calling it a career.
