The Men's road time trial at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 13 August at the Urban Road Cycling Course. It was won by Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland.
Pre-race favorites
Included among the favorites for victory were Cancellara, the reigning world time trial champion, and Germany's Stefan Schumacher, who won both time trials in the 2008 Tour de France, defeating Cancellara in each. Other cyclists considered to be possible medalists included American Dave Zabriskie, and Australians Michael Rogers and Cadel Evans. Evans had originally announced that he was withdrawing from the time trial with a knee injury, giving his place in the event to Rogers, but he recovered faster than expected. The UCI thus gave him a wildcard entry to let him compete. American Levi Leipheimer, Spaniard Alberto Contador, Italy's Marzio Bruseghin and Denis Menchov of Russia were also thought to be contenders for the podium.
The event The men's road time trial took place on a mountainous 47.6 km course consisting of two 23.8 km laps each containing an approximately 305 m climb followed by an equal descent. The 39 riders in the time trial were broken into three groups, who would race the clock one hour separate from one another. Most of the medal favorites were in the last group. Each rider started the course a minute and thirty seconds after the rider who went before them.
The leader at the end of the first group of 13 was Svein Tuft (Canada), completing the course in 1h 04' 39". This was 23 seconds clear of the next closest competitor Robert Gesink (Netherlands). They were still the top two riders after the second group, with American David Zabriskie and Russian Denis Menchov, thought to be podium contenders, both turning in disappointing rides.
The medalists all came in the third group. Gustav Larsson of Sweden, starting seventh from the end, beat Tuft by nearly two minutes. The man after Larsson, American Levi Leipheimer, was 36 seconds slower than Larsson, but held on to win bronze. The event's prohibitive favorite, world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara, started last, and though he was six seconds behind Larson's pace at the final time check, he wound up winning the gold medal by a margin of 33 seconds. The other major gold medal favorite, Stefan Schumacher of Germany, finished over three minutes behind Cancellara.
Final classification
Rank Rider Country Time Fabian Cancellara 1:02:11 Gustav Larsson 1:02:44 Levi Leipheimer 1:03:214 Alberto Contador 1:03:295 Cadel Evans 1:03:346 Samuel Sánchez 1:04:377 Svein Tuft 1:04:398 Michael Rogers 1:04:469 Stef Clement 1:04:5910 Robert Gesink 1:05:0211 Steve Cummings 1:05:0712 David Zabriskie 1:05:17DSQ Stefan Schumacher 1:05:2514 Bert Grabsch 1:05:2615 Vincenzo Nibali 1:05:3616 Ryder Hesjedal 1:05:4217 Rein Taaramäe 1:05:4718 Vladimir Karpets 1:05:5219 Chris Anker Sørensen 1:05:5520 Denis Menchov 1:06:1021 Vasil Kiryienka 1:06:1222 Marzio Bruseghin 1:06:2023 Kim Kirchen 1:06:2924 Andrey Mizurov 1:06:3225 Santiago Botero 1:06:3526 Maxime Monfort 1:07:1227 László Bodrogi 1:07:2728 Simon Špilak 1:07:3429 Matej Jurčo 1:07:5230 Matías Médici 1:07:5331 David George 1:07:5532 Andriy Hryvko 1:08:0133 Brian Bach Vandborg 1:08:1034 Przemysław Niemiec 1:08:4335 Hossein Askari 1:08:4636 Raivis Belohvoščiks 1:08:5437 Denys Kostyuk 1:09:0438 Matija Kvasina 1:09:0639 Fumiyuki Beppu 1:11:05
References
External links Official page on the Beijing 2008 website