Cycling Update: 2012 Olympic Men's and Women's Time Trial

When Kristin Armstrong won Olympic gold back in 2008 she had come in as the favorite.  Now in her late 30's and after a tough year she was thought to have a chance, but was certainly not seen as the favorite.  That went to Judith Arndt of Germany, the current world champion and Emma Pooley of Great Britain a hometown favorite.

Armstrong though looked spectacular and seemed to win the gold with ease as she cruised through setting the best time at all check points.  She has been a dominant time trialist for a long time and this caps off her career quite nicely.

We also had a tremendous performance from Olga Zabelinskaya. If you'll remember I mentioned the other day that she was a time trial specialist and so in the road race winning break she was looking for a chance to get out ahead on her own. She got that chance today and road a tremendous race to take her second bronze medal of these Olympics. It's an outstanding performance from Zabelinskaya.

The real dominant performance of the day though came from the men's time trial.  The favorite, Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain, completely dominated.  He bested the current world champion Tony Martin of Germany by 42 seconds a large gap in such a competition.  The two big surprises were Christopher Froom of Great Britain taking the bronze and Taylor Phinney of the United States getting fourth just as he did in the road race.  Phinney way over performed in these Olympics and will more than likely be the favorite at the Olympic time trial in 2016 when he'll be 26 years old and much stronger than he is now.

Women's Top 10
1 Kristin Armstrong (United States of America) 0:37:34.82
2 Judith Arndt (Germany) 0:00:15.47
3 Olga Zabelinskaya (Russian Federation) 0:00:22.53
4 Linda Melanie Villumsen (New Zealand) 0:00:24.36
5 Clara Hughes (Canada) 0:00:54.14
6 Emma Pooley (Great Britain) 0:01:02.88
7 Amber Neben (United States of America) 0:01:10.35
8 Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) 0:01:18.86
9 Trixi Worrack (Germany) 0:01:45.91
10 Elizabeth Armitstead (Great Britain) 0:01:51.42


Men's Top 10
1 Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) 0:50:39.54
2 Tony Martin (Germany) 0:00:42.00
3 Christopher Froome (Great Britain) 0:01:08.33
4 Taylor Phinney (United States of America) 0:01:58.53
5 Marco Pinotti (Italy) 0:02:09.74
6 Michael Rogers (Australia) 0:02:11.85
7 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) 0:02:14.17
8 Bert Grabsch (Germany) 0:02:38.50
9 Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spain) 0:02:49.82
10 Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) 0:03:30.18