Image 1 of 44 (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 2 of 44 Roglic shows off his gold medal (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 3 of 44 Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 4 of 44 Rohan Dennis (Australia) took bronze. (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 5 of 44 Stefan Kung heartbreakingly finished a fraction outside the medals (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 6 of 44 Wout van Aert had a disappointing day (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 7 of 44 Filippo Ganna (Italy). (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 8 of 44 Dumoulin congratulates his trade teammate Roglic (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 9 of 44 Roglic performs his ski-jumper celebration on the Olympic podium (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 10 of 44 Roglic loving life on the podium (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 11 of 44 Big celebrations in the Roglic camp (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 12 of 44 Roglic celebrates (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 13 of 44 Dumoulin with his silver medal (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 14 of 44 Happy faces on the podium (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 15 of 44 Dennis with his bronze medal (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 16 of 44 The podium ceremony (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 17 of 44 George Bennett (New Zealand) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 18 of 44 Rigoberto Uran (Colombia) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 19 of 44 Nicolas Roche (Ireland) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 20 of 44 João Almeida (Portugal) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 21 of 44 Lawson Craddock (USA) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 22 of 44 Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 23 of 44 Wout van Aert (Belgium) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 24 of 44 Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 25 of 44 Max Schachmann (Germany) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 26 of 44 Tao Geoghegan Hart (Great Britain) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 27 of 44 Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 28 of 44 Stefan Kung (Switzerland) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 29 of 44 Rohan Dennis (Australia) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 30 of 44 Geraint Thomas (Great Britain) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 31 of 44 Brandon McNulty (USA) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 32 of 44 Tom Dumoulin during his ride (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 33 of 44 Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 34 of 44 Hugo Houle (Canada) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 35 of 44 Primoz Roglic (Slovenian) en route to gold (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 36 of 44 Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 37 of 44 Brandon McNulty (USA) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 38 of 44 Stefan Kung (Switzerland) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 39 of 44 Toms Skujins (Latvia) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 40 of 44 Wout van Aert (Belgium) (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 41 of 44 Roglic after his ride (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 42 of 44 Roglic with his gold medal (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 43 of 44 Joy for Roglic (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 44 of 44 Dumoulin and Roglic on the podium (Image credit: Getty Images)
Primož Roglič (Slovenia) bounced back from Tour de France heartbreak to win the men’s Olympic Games time trial title with a thoroughly commanding performance in Tokyo on Wednesday.
The 31-year-old finished the 44.2km course in a time of 55:04 to take the gold medal, having set the fastest times at all but the first time check at 9.7km.
Roglič was untouchable, pacing himself perfectly over the climbs to pull away from all of his rivals over the technical and demanding Tokyo course.
Staggeringly, not a single rider was able to finish within a minute of Roglič, with a resurgent Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) taking silver with a time 1:01 down on his Jumbo-Visma teammate.
Rohan Dennis (Australia), who looked in contention at the halfway point, was forced to settle for bronze, 1:03 down on the winner.
There was huge disappointment for Stefan Küng (Switzlerand), who missed out on a medal by less than half a second.
World time trial champion Filippo Ganna (Italy) was the fastest rider at the first check at 9.7km but the hilly parcours was too much for the Italian, who faded consistently throughout the race and was forced to settle for fifth on the day.
Another pre-race favourite, Wout van Aert (Belgian) came unstuck on the second lap and crossed the line in sixth.
There was no doubting Roglič and his performance, though. The two-time Vuelta a España winner came into the crash after crashing out of the Tour de France and finishing out of contention in the men’s road race on Saturday.
He set off like a train and was less than half a second down on Ganna at the first check. At that point, the top six riders at the finish were separated by less than 10 seconds but as the course unfolded the gaps started to increase.
At 15km, Roglič was less than a tenth of a second up on Van Aert, with Ganna, Kung, Dennis, and Dumoulin just a handful of second further back. By the end of the first lap, Roglič was over eight seconds clear of his closest rivals but the second lap saw the Slovenian pull away from the entire field.
At 37.1km, Dumoulin was closest at 42 seconds, while Van Aert had drifted out to a minute back. Dennis rose to second on the road but then dropped to fifth before recovering to take his second ever Olympic medal, while Dumoulin secured the same place from the 2016 Rio Olympics.
How it unfolded
The men rode two laps of the 22.1-kilometre circuit, which started and finished at the Fuji Speedway. It began with a 4km mostly downhill section out of the Speedway, followed by a long uphill grind to the first time check at 9.7 kilometres. A long descent took the riders back to the entrance of the Speedway, followed by a hard rolling section to the finish line.
The men rode in overcast and hot conditions, with the humidity at 95 per cent, in air that felt more like soup. They rode in three waves, with Canada's Hugo Houle setting the first benchmark time. Houle was in the hot-seat until Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) in the second wave finally displaced him.
Rigoberto Urán (Col) then bumped Evenepoel down five riders later, and the Colombian held the top spot until Dumoulin demolished his time by over a minute. Dumoulin, who shocked the cycling world by walking away from the sport before the start of the season, showed that he has regained his competitive fire by setting the fastest splits at every point, catching his 90 second man, Brandon McNulty (USA).
Unfortunately for Dumoulin, Roglič was having the ride of his life, catching both his 90-second man, Kasper Asgreen (Denmark) and three-minute man, Joao Almeida (Portugal).
Just showing how fast Roglič was, despite being caught, Asgreen still finished seventh. Roglič was the only rider to post a sub-56 minute time of 55:04.19 .
The final three riders to start - time trial specialist Küng, world champion Filippo Ganna, and road race silver medalist Van Aert - were never in contention for gold, but all had a chance at the other two medal spots, with Küng finishing fourth, Ganna fifth and Van Aert sixth.
Both Küng and Ganna were less then two seconds out of the bronze medal time. However, the day was Slovenia's, as they won their first ever gold medal in cycling, and their second medal of these Games after Tadej Pogačar's bronze in the road race.