The men's road time trial, one of the cycling events at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, took place on 1 August over a course in southwest London and Surrey.
Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain won the gold medal.
Qualification
Each nation in the top 15 of the 2011 UCI World Tour, top 7 of the UCI Europe Tour, top 4 of the UCI America Tour, top 2 of the UCI Asia Tour and leaders of the UCI Oceania and Africa Tours qualified to have one rider in the race. In addition, ten nations gained an extra rider through the performance of their riders in the 2011 UCI World Time Trial Championships; these were Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, Australia, Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Denmark, Spain, Sweden and Canada. The United States were given an extra rider at the expense of Luxembourg, who were not represented in the race.
Pre-race favourites The defending champion in this discipline was Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland. He was expected to mount a strong challenge, but crashed heavily in the closing stages of the Olympic road race, initially putting his participation in the time trial in doubt. Scans revealed that he had avoided breaking his collarbone for the second time in the season, though, and he started in the time trial.
Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain was also considered a big favourite, having won seven previous time trials in the 2012 season.. Current world champion Tony Martin of Germany was tipped as an early favourite, but had suffered an injury-wrecked season, and pulled out of the Tour de France in an effort to be fit for the Olympic race.
Of the other contenders, Great Britain's Chris Froome had shown strong form at the Tour de France, where he finished second in two time trials. Michael Rogers, the 2003–2005 time trial world champion represented Australia, with 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans electing not to start due to fatigue. Young American Taylor Phinney, who won the opening time trial of the 2012 Giro D'Italia represented the United States. Sylvain Chavanel was the sole French rider, along with Luis León Sánchez of Spain and Marco Pinotti, winner of a time trial in the Giro, who represented Italy.
Course
The competition consisted of a time trial over one lap of a course, with staggered starts. Starting and finishing at the historic Hampton Court Palace, the course passed through areas of southwest London and Surrey including Esher, Kingston upon Thames, Teddington and Bushy Park.
Schedule Date Time RoundWednesday 1 August 2012 14:15 (BST) Final
Results The entry list was published on 1 August.
Rank Rider Country Time Bradley Wiggins 50:39.54 Tony Martin 51:21.54 Chris Froome 51:47.874 Taylor Phinney 52:38.075 Marco Pinotti 52:49.286 Michael Rogers 52:51.397 Fabian Cancellara 52:53.718 Bert Grabsch 53:18.049 Jonathan Castroviejo 53:29.3610 Janez Brajkovič 54:09.7211 Lieuwe Westra 54:19.6212 Vasil Kiryienka 54:30.2913 Edvald Boasson Hagen 54:30.8714 Lars Bak 54:33.2115 Jakob Fuglsang 54:34.4916 Gustav Larsson 54:35.2617 Philippe Gilbert 54:39.9818 Nelson Oliveira 54:41.5719 Jack Bauer 54:54.1620 Denis Menchov 54:59.2621 Ramūnas Navardauskas 55:12.3222 Lars Boom 55:29.7423 Alexander Vinokourov 55:37.0524 Fumiyuki Beppu 55:40.6425 Maciej Bodnar 55:49.6726 Magno Nazaret 55:50.7727 David McCann 56:03.7728 Ryder Hesjedal 56:06.1829 Sylvain Chavanel 56:07.6730 Michael Albasini 56:38.3831 Assan Bazayev 56:40.7732 Luis León Sánchez 56:59.1633 Tomás Gil 57:05.1234 Mouhcine Lahsaini 57:25.2435 Fabio Duarte 57:34.2036 Alireza Haghi 57:41.4437 Ahmet Akdilek 59:11.19
References
External links
Route Map 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's road time trial at Sports Reference