Olympics Rio 2016: Fabian Cancellara grabs men's time trial gold, Chris Froome settles for Bronze

ByEurosport

Updated 10/08/2016 at 17:25 GMT

Fabian Cancellara won his second Olympic gold medal in the men's time trial as Great Britain's Chris Froome was forced to settle for bronze amid some saturated and gloomy conditions in Rio de Janeiro.

Froome repeated his efforts from London 2012 with another third place in the time trial, but he was no real match for Swiss veteran Cancellara, 35, who won in a time of 1:12:15, 47 seconds ahead of Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin.

Dumoulin overcame a broken wrist in landing silver, while Cancellara repeated his victory he enjoyed in the same discipline at Beijing 2008.

This success was made sweeter after he crashed on his way to finishing seventh four years ago.

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"This is pretty special. 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.

"There are just no words to explain. Finishing with the gold, is not bad.

Fabian Cancellera and Chris Froome after men's time trial.

Image credit: Eurosport

"I got the right balance, and got the key to get over this day. Now I am just happy."

Cancellara, an iconic figure in the sport who is nicknamed 'Spartacus', is adamant this will be his last season in the sport. If that proves to be the case, he will go out on a magnificent high.

Tour de France winner 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.

"Fabian was the clear winner today. I just didn't have any more," said Froome. "To come here and medal again at the Olympics is an incredible feeling."

Chris Froome (GBR) competes.

Image credit: Eurosport

Neither Froome nor British team-mate Geraint Thomas could impact upon Cancellara's bilstering pace as Froome's bid to emulate the double of Tour de France and Olympic gold achieved by Bradley Wiggins in London four years ago came up well short.

Over the punishing 54km course in Rio, Froome was always facing an uphill battle when he reached the first time split 20 seconds behind the gold medal winner.

Thomas, a late entrant after several withdrawals following Saturday's brutal road race, led briefly in the clubhouse but finally wound up in ninth place with a time of 1:14.52.

Froome benefited from the bad fortune of Australia's Rohan Dennis, who suffered a dreadful dose of bad luck when a tri-bar snapped in the closing stages of the race prompting a change of bike and loss of time that saw him finish outside of the medals in fifth place.

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