Tokyo Olympics: Geraint Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart finish outside top 10 in time trial
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Tokyo Olympics: Primoz Roglic wins gold in men's individual time trial
Tokyo Olympic Games on the BBC |
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Dates: 23 July-8 August Time in Tokyo: BST +8 |
Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and online; Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sounds; live text and video clips on BBC Sport website and app. |
Britain's Geraint Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart finished outside the top 10 as Slovenia's Primoz Roglic won time trial gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Former Tour de France winner Thomas came 12th, with Geoghegan Hart in 29th position in hot and humid conditions.
Roglic, two-time winner of the Vuelta a Espana, won in 55 minutes 4.19 seconds.
Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands won the silver medal, with Australia's Rohan Dennis collecting the bronze, ahead of Switzerland's Stefan Kueng in fourth.
The 44.1km race saw the riders complete two laps of the Fuji International Speedway circuit, with Great Britain aiming to win a medal at a third successive Olympics after Bradley Wiggins won gold in 2012 and Chris Froome finished third in both 2012 and 2016.
On Saturday, Thomas and Geoghegan Hart were involved in a crash in the road race, with neither man able to finish.
Afterwards, Thomas said he was "feeling beaten up but not too bad", adding he had "definitely felt worse".
The Welshman was hoping to win his third Olympic medal, but his first in road racing, after winning track gold in the team pursuit in both 2008 in Beijing and in London four years later.
He was 11th at the halfway point in Japan, before dropping to 12th, finishing two minutes 42 seconds slower than Roglic.
"It was tough," said Thomas. "I tried to start at a pace that we thought would be there or thereabouts for a medal. Then I heard I was 50 seconds down on Roglic which wasn't great for morale.
"I had a bad patch on the climb of the second lap, and lost momentum and concentration a bit. Rohan caught me and that wasn't good for the head either.
"It's been a super hard five weeks and it just seems to be one thing after the next.
"I tried to stay positive and stay on it, tried to put the hat in the ring and not be scared of failing. It's just been tough, especially mentally as well. I just need to stay positive and try to keep going."
Geoghegan Hart, winner of the 2020 Giro d'Italia, came 29th of 38 finishers in a time of 1:01:44.81.
Tokyo Olympics: Annemiek van Vleuten wins time trial gold
Van Vleuten wins women's race
The women's individual time trial was won by Annemiek van Vleuten, while fellow Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen took bronze and Switzerland's Marlen Reusser collected silver.
It was 38-year-old Van Vleuten's second medal of the Games after she claimed silver in the road race on Sunday.
Van Vleuten, who suffered three cracks in her spine in a crash at the Rio Games in 2016, raised her arms in celebration when she finished the road race as she mistakenly believed she had won.
But there was no question she was the winner when she took gold in the time trial on Wednesday, finishing in 30:13.49, nearly a full minute faster than Reusser.
Britain's Anna Shackley placed 18th in 34:13.60.
"I knew after the road race I was in super, super shape," said Van Vleuten.
"Everyone was talking about everything else but nobody was talking about the performance. I closed myself off from social media and kept the message I was in super shape."
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