Home > News

Armstrong, Cancellara repeat Olympic Games time trial golds

A spell in the hot seat and 7th for Canadian Whitten

August 10, 2016
Share on SMS

Kristin Armstrong of the USA took her third consecutive Olympic Games time trial gold medal Wednesday, standing atop the podium in Rio De Janeiro the same way she did in London and Beijing. Swiss star Fabian Cancellara, ready for retirement, repeated his Beijing 2012 accomplishment of taking the chrono gold.


Starting from Pontal Beach the women had one lap of the Grumari circuit first seen in both road races, with two short climbs, one of just over a kilometer, the other twice the length and a little steeper. The roads were wet over the 29.9-km.

Canadian Tara Whitten was in the hot seat after posting 45:01 until London 2012 double bronze medalist Olga Zabelinskaya of Russia eclipsed her by 30-seconds. Whitten finished 7th on the day.


But Armstrong, the last woman to start, was too strong for the Russian, setting the best intermediate time at the first check, fading back of Zabelinskaya at the second check at the top of the longer climb and then gaining seven seconds to win by five.

Sunday’s gold medalist Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands added a bronze to her mantle with a ride of 44:37. There was also a Dutch athlete just off the podium.

Canada’s other entrant, Karol-Ann Canuel, was 13th.

The course—to be rolled twice by the men—was still damp when Twitter sensation Dan Craven of Namibia the first to start, on a regular bike and wearing enormous plastic framed glasses. American Brent Bookwalter crashed soon after his race began, highlighting the difficult conditions.


There were two distinct waves for the men, with Belgian Tim Wellens the last of the first wave and lone Canadian representative Hugo Houle the second to start in the second wave.


An early leader was Austrian Georg Preidler with 1:16:02, but his fast mark was soon cracked, first by German Simon Geschke (1:15:49) then surprisingly by Czech Leopold Konig (1:15:23).

Froome was the last to leave the start house.


The chrono aces started posting the fastest time out on the course. Froome’s 7th best mark (15:32) at the first intermediate check 10-km into the course had him 20-seconds in arrears of Cancellara.

By the second intermediate time at the peak of the big climb, Cancellara was lagging behind Australian Rohan Dennis, 5th in the 2014 World Championships race against the clock, Dutchman Tom Dumoulin and Spaniard Jonathan Castroviejo, now tied with Froome. But Cancellara overtook Taylor Phinney (USA) who started 1:30 ahead of the Swiss.

Spartacus then returned to the top at the third intermediate check, 18-seconds faster than the Australian. Dennis then had to change bikes before the final climb due to his TT bar breaking. Froome started pushing Dumoulin for last podium spot.

Two-time and current national champion, Castroviejo was the provisional leader, just ahead of Brit Geraint Thomas, with several riders to finish. Cancellara had the better of the Spaniard and the Australian at the fourth check by almost a minute, with Dumoulin 33-seconds back and Froome in the bronze spot +0:41. Could Spartacus hold on?

Cancellara booted Castroviejo off the hot seat with 1:12:15. Over a minute back, it was unlikely Dennis was going to medal. Dumoulin hit the line 47-seconds in arrears. Froome kept Castroviejo from the bronze by 4-seconds.

It was an emotional win for Spartacus.


Houle was 21st, ahead of both Americans.


Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympic Games Women’s Road Cycling Time Trial
Gold: Kristin Armstrong (USA) 44:26
Silver: Olga Zabelinskaya (Russia) +0:05
Bronze: Anna van der Breggen (The Netherlands) +0:11
7) Tara Whitten (Canada) +0:35
13) Karol-Ann Canuel (Canada) +2:04

Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympic Games Men’s Road Cycling Time Trial
Gold: Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) 1:12:15
Silver: Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands) +0:47
Bronze: Chris Froome (Great Britain) +1:02
21) Hugo Houle (Canada) +4:47