The Men's road time trial at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

took place on 13 August at the

Urban Road Cycling Course The Urban Cycling Road Course () was one of nine temporary venues used during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. The road cycling race started at the North Square of Yongdingmen in Beijing's Chongwen District and fi ...

. It was won by

Fabian Cancellara Fabian Cancellara (born 18 March 1981), nicknamed "Spartacus", is a Swiss cycling executive, businessman and former professional road racing cyclist who last rode for UCI ProTeam . He was born in Wohlen bei Bern, Switzerland. Cancellara began r ...

of Switzerland.

Pre-race favorites

Included among the favorites for victory were Cancellara, the reigning world time trial champion,
/ref> and Germany's

Stefan Schumacher Stefan Schumacher (born 21 July 1981) is a German former professional road racing cyclist. Schumacher won the bronze medal in the road race at the 2007 UCI Road World Championships, two stages in the 2006 Giro d'Italia and two stages in the 200 ...

, who won both time trials in the

2008 Tour de France The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th running of the race. The event took place from 5 to 27 July. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its regu ...

, defeating Cancellara in each. Other cyclists considered to be possible medalists included American

Dave Zabriskie David Zabriskie (born January 12, 1979) is a retired professional road bicycle racer from the United States, who competed as a professional between 1999 and 2013. His main strength is individual time trials and his career highlights include stage ...

, and Australians Michael Rogers and

Cadel Evans Cadel Lee Evans (; born 14 February 1977) is an Australian former professional racing cyclist, who competed professionally in both mountain biking and road bicycle racing. A four-time Olympian, Evans is one of three non-Europeans – along wi ...

. 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 Levi Leipheimer (born October 24, 1973) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He was twice US national champion, winning the time trial title in 1999 and the road race in 2007, and is an Olympic medalist. Leipheimer was born a ...

, Spaniard

Alberto Contador Alberto Contador Velasco (; born 6 December 1982) is a Spanish former professional cyclist. He is one of the most successful riders of his era, winning the Tour de France twice ( 2007, 2009), the Giro d'Italia twice (2008, 2015), and the Vue ...

, Italy's

Marzio Bruseghin Marzio Bruseghin (born 15 June 1974 in Conegliano, Treviso) is an Italian retired professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 1997 and 2012. His best achievement was winning the 2006 Italian time-trial championship, as ...

and

Denis Menchov Denis Nikolayevich Menchov (russian: Денис Николаевич Меньшов; born 25 January 1978) is a former professional Russian road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 2000 and 2013. He was best known as a general clas ...

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 Svein Tuft (born May 9, 1977) is a Canadian former road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2019 for the , , , and teams. Tuft was the winner of the 2006–07 UCI America Tour, and was a thirteen-time champion at the Canadia ...

(Canada), completing the course in 1h 04' 39". This was 23 seconds clear of the next closest competitor

Robert Gesink Robert Gesink (born 31 May 1986) is a Dutch professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . His major victories include the 2012 Tour of California, the 2011 Tour of Oman and the 2010 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. Gesink also ...

(Netherlands). They were still the top two riders after the second group, with American

David Zabriskie David Zabriskie (born January 12, 1979) is a retired professional road bicycle racer from the United States, who competed as a professional between 1999 and 2013. His main strength is individual time trials and his career highlights include stage ...

and Russian

, thought to be podium contenders, both turning in disappointing rides. The medalists all came in the third group.

Gustav Larsson Gustav Erik Larsson (born 20 September 1980) is a Swedish former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2001 and 2016 for nine different teams. Larsson specialised as a time trialist, winning the Swedish National Time ...

of Sweden, starting seventh from the end, beat Tuft by nearly two minutes. The man after Larsson, American

, was 36 seconds slower than Larsson, but held on to win bronze. The event's prohibitive favorite, world time trial champion

, 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,

of Germany, finished over three minutes behind Cancellara.

Final classification

References

External links

Official page on the Beijing 2008 website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's road time trial Road cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cycling at the Summer Olympics – Men's individual time trial Men's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics