SLOVENIA’S PRIMOZ ROGLIC put his Tour de France nightmares behind him, powering to Olympic gold in the men’s time trial on Wednesday.
Ireland’s Nicolas Roche, meanwhile, finished in 28th position of the 39-rider field. Roche posted a time of 1:01:23.13, trailing Roglic by 6:18.94.
“That was one tough day,” Roche said shortly after finishing.
“[I] definitely left it all on the road but obviously against a lot of the top of the world specialists, I’m a lot slower than most of them, but I gave it 100%.
“I thank the staff and Cycling Ireland and the Olympic team for their commitment behind me for these Games, and I hope I gave everything I could.
“It’s been an amazing experience to get my fourth Games, I’m extremely proud.”
The 31-year-old Roglic infamously suffered a collapse in the penultimate-stage time trial in last year’s Tour, blowing a huge lead to lose the yellow jersey to compatriot Tadej Pogacar, before an early crash ruined his hopes this year.
But he put those disappointments behind him in style near Mount Fuji, completing the 44.2-kilometre course in 55min 4sec, just over a minute ahead of Dutchman Tom Dumoulin.
Silver was a great result for Dumoulin, who took a four-month sabbatical from the sport earlier this year to protect his mental health.
Dumoulin and Roglic, Jumbo-Visma teammates on the professional circuit, embraced after the finish line at the Fuji International Speedway.
Australia’s Rohan Dennis pipped Swiss rider Stefan Keung to the bronze medal.
Slovenia also won bronze in the men’s road race through two-time Tour de France champion Pogacar.
© – AFP, 2021, with reporting by Gavin Cooney
