Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's road time trial


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

RankRiderCountryTime
Fabian Cancellara1:02:11
Gustav Larsson1:02:44
Levi Leipheimer1:03:21
4Alberto Contador1:03:29
5Cadel Evans1:03:34
6Samuel Sánchez1:04:37
7Svein Tuft1:04:39
8Michael Rogers1:04:46
9Stef Clement1:04:59
10Robert Gesink1:05:02
11Steve Cummings1:05:07
12David Zabriskie1:05:17
DSQStefan Schumacher1:05:25
14Bert Grabsch1:05:26
15Vincenzo Nibali1:05:36
16Ryder Hesjedal1:05:42
17Rein Taaramäe1:05:47
18Vladimir Karpets1:05:52
19Chris Anker Sørensen1:05:55
20Denis Menchov1:06:10
21Vasil Kiryienka1:06:12
22Marzio Bruseghin1:06:20
23Kim Kirchen1:06:29
24Andrey Mizurov1:06:32
25Santiago Botero1:06:35
26Maxime Monfort1:07:12
27László Bodrogi1:07:27
28Simon Špilak1:07:34
29Matej Jurčo1:07:52
30Matías Médici1:07:53
31David George1:07:55
32Andriy Hryvko1:08:01
33Brian Bach Vandborg1:08:10
34Przemysław Niemiec1:08:43
35Hossein Askari1:08:46
36Raivis Belohvoščiks1:08:54
37Denys Kostyuk1:09:04
38Matija Kvasina1:09:06
39Fumiyuki Beppu1:11:05