When the 144 strong Olympic peloton rolled out of London’s Mall on a rainy July morning in 2012, few would have expected that nearly six hours and 250km later, when the men’s road race made its return to the smart city centre boulevard, Alexandre Vinokourov would be the rider raising his arms in Triumph.
The Kazakh rider, then 38 and in his last season as a pro, had opted to make the Olympic Games road race and time trial his last ever international races. But the London road race with its flat finale was widely expected to be decided in a bunch sprint - far from Vinokourov’s strong point.
However, when a large move of around 30 riders splintered off the main field on the more challenging mid-race segment on the Box Hill climb, the large chasing group containing most of the sprinters, including local favourite Mark Cavendish, failed to regain contact.
Vinokourov and Colombian Rigoberto Urán subsequently left the rest of the large breakaway floundering when they staged a well-calculated two-man attack some ten kilometres from the finish line. Once back on the Mall, Vinokourov shot away and took the gold alone at the line. Urán finished a few seconds later whilst Norway’s Alexander Kristoff brought home the rest of the break for bronze.
"It is nice to finish off my career with a gold medal. I will still race in the time trial on Wednesday, but I will just spin. I have what I have wanted. I have the gold medal and I can envision my retirement,” Vinokourov said afterwards.
Five days later, Sir Bradley Wiggins lived up to his status of time trial pre-race favourite when he scorched around the south-west London and Hampton Court circuit to become the first ever Olympic time trial gold medallist and Tour de France winner in the same year.
Wiggins’ victory made him Britain’s most prolific Olympian ever, with a total of seven medals (four gold).
Wiggins finished 42 seconds ahead of Germany’s Tony Martin, a gain of almost a second per kilometre on the rolling 44km course. His victory topped off what had already been the greatest sporting summer of his career.
"It's all about the gold medals,” said Wiggins at the time. “There's only one colour really. It's No4 for me, not No7. So I have got to carry on to Rio now and make it five.”
Four summers later, Wiggins will once again be racing in Rio, but this time on the track, where his main target will be the team pursuit.
Both Martin and Britain’s Chris Froome, on the other hand, will be race the time trial in Rio four years after they took silver and bronze in London’s race against the clock. So too, will Fabian Cancellara, the 2008 Olympic Champion in the time trial and now in his last season. Cancellara was unable to perform to the best of his abilities in London’s time trial after crashing heavily in the road-race and injuring his shoulder.
This time Cancellara, like Vinokourov four years earlier, will be hoping to round off his career on the highest note possible.
The reigning Women’s Olympic Champions on the road will both be going for gold at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. We take a look at their road to Rio…
Widely considered the greatest cyclist of her generation, Vos has won nearly everything there is to win in cycling. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, 12-time UCI World Champion across three disciplines (road, cyclo-cross, track), and has more than 150 pro wins to her name.
Vos made her Olympic debut in Beijing as a 21-year-old. Although disappointed with her sixth place in the road race, she picked up a gold medal in the points race on the track.
Fast forward four years and the road race at the London 2012 Olympics was Vos’ race to lose. An Olympic road gold medal the only prize missing from her trophy room (yes, room – and it’s jam-packed).
From the gun, the Dutch team was on the attack in London, despite heavy rain. When Vos made her move on Box Hill, the hardest part of the road race circuit, only Lizzie Armitstead (Great Britain), Olga Zabelinskaya (Russia) and Shelley Olds (USA) could follow. Olds flatted out of the move as Armistead, Zabelinskaya and Vos worked together to extend their gap to the peloton.
With the finish line nearing, Vos opened the sprint to beat Armitstead in a two-up charge to the line. Zabelinskaya came in several seconds later for bronze.
While no one would or should ever count out Vos, her build-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics has been far from ideal, with injury forcing her to miss nearly a year of racing. She returned to the women’s peloton in March 2016 and has been going from strength to strength.
It’s unclear if the Dutch team will be riding for Vos or Anna van der Breggen, silver medalist in both the road race and the individual time trial at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships. That lack of clarity is their best card to play. With two potential winners they need not rely solely on Vos to deliver a big result.
Kristin Armstrong announced her retirement from professional cycling following the 2009 UCI Road World Championships. The American had won time trial gold at the Beijing Olympics the previous year, and was ready to start a family.
She left professional cycling as one of the best cyclists to come out of the United States, with a pair of UCI Road World Championship gold medals in the individual time trial (in 2006 and 2009) along with a silver and a bronze.
Armstrong had a baby boy, Lucas, in 2010 and announced her comeback before his first birthday. She was determined to defend the gold medal she won in Beijing at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Despite a limited race schedule in 2012 and breaking her collarbone eight weeks out from the Games, Armstrong won her second Olympic title in the London 2012 time trial. She bested Judith Arndt (Germany) by 15 seconds over the 29-kilometre course. Third in the road race, Olga Zabelinskaya (Russia) picked up a second bronze medal in the time trial.
Gold medal defended, Armstrong announced her retirement again. Nearly three years later, in April 2015, Armstrong came out of retirement for a second time, eyeing a third straight Olympic gold medal in Rio. That same year, she won the national time trial title and was the top American at the UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, finishing in fifth place.
Armstrong again opted out of international competition in 2016, a point of contention among her compatriots vying for an Olympic berth. She finished in second place at the Tour of the Gila and Amgen Tour of California, the latter a UCI Women’s WorldTour event, before time trialing to bronze behind Carmen Small and Amber Neben at the US National Championships in May.
Armstrong will turn 43 on August 11, the day after she aims to become the first woman to win three Olympic gold medals in the individual time trial.