Cycling: Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) has just won the Olympic individual time trial in Rio, repeating his 2008 triumph. The old hand relegated Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) 47 seconds back and Chris Froome (Great Britain) 1:02 back. Tony Martin (Germany) finished twelfth, just one place ahead of Simon Geschke (Germany).
Fabian Cancellara dominates the time trial
Many gold candidates were named before the start, but in the end there could only be one winner. Fabian Cancellara made for a wonderful story by winning the gold medal in his last major race. As in his best times, he divided the race perfectly. At the beginning he was still behind Rohan Dennis, but on the climbs and on the final kilometers he ignited the turbo. In the end, the competition simply had no chance against the 35-year-old. The two had to trade this as top favorites before the start Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin admit. While Dumoulin was still suffering from the after-effects of his Tour de France crash, Chris Froome appeared to have simply fallen out of shape. At the end of the day they could be happy about winning a medal, but it didn't turn out to be the gold they had hoped for. For Rohan Dennis the race was a bit too long. At first he was still able to keep up with the best times, but the closer he got to the finish line, the bigger his gap grew. Shortly before the finish he even had to change his bike because he suddenly had the handlebar attachment in his hand. He continued to lose valuable time and ultimately missed out on a medal with fifth place. The Spanish starter finished fourth Jonathan Castroviejo.
The German hope Tony Martin had no chance today
"Being there is everything" was also the motto for the end Tony Martin. Even before the start, he expressed his skepticism and spat anything but big tones. He would have been overjoyed with any medal, but in the end he didn't get past twelfth place. The knee problems seemed to have been too big, although he was never able to build on his previous strong performances in time trials this season. The second German starter Simon Geschke started ahead of Tony Martin and finished in a respectable 13th place. This means that the road cyclists from Germany will get nothing at these Olympic Games. The hope of the BDR now rests mainly on the track.
The result of the Olympic individual time trial
| PLATZ | Driver | Country | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Fabian Cancellara | Switzerland | 1:12:15 |
| 2. | Tom Dumoulin | Netherlands | + 0: 47 |
| 3. | Chris Froome | Great Britain | + 1: 02 |
| 4. | Jonathan Castroviejo | Spain | + 1: 06 |
| 5. | Rohan Dennis | Australia | + 1: 10 |
| 6. | Maciej Bodnar | Poland | + 1: 50 |
| 7. | Nelson Oliveira | Portugal | + 2: 00 |
| 8. | Ion Izaguirre | Spain | + 2: 06 |
| 9. | Geraint Thomas | Great Britain | + 2: 37 |
| 10. | Primois Roglic | Slovenia | + 2: 40 |