The Swiss rider, who has been almost unbeatable this year, crossed the line over a minute ahead of second place man David Millar with a time of 58 minutes 09 seconds. He had a wobble that nearly sent him off his bike at the bridge that had caught so many people out, but in his smooth style he corrected it was went on to win. Cancellara left it late to make his decision to go to the World Championships after he suffered a shock loss to Peter Velits during the Vuelta a Espana. It could have been his fifth title but he decided to skip the 2008 championships after winning the Olympic time-trial.
Good Result for Millar
Despite losing the rainbow stripes to the man machine Cancellara at the last minute Millar will be happy with his result. The Brit beat Tony Martin to the silver by 10 seconds and was the first man to break the hour mark. Millar chose not to ride in the event last year as he felt it was pointless to even try and beat Cancellara in Switzerland.
The Scot said he approached the event in a different manner to Cancellara, who had chosen to ride the early part of the course gently to have the power to attack on the final two hills. My tactic was the opposite of Fabian's, it was to attack the first lap and then hang on for dear life. And that's basically what I did.”
Velits will be disappointed with his result after starting as a favourite for the podium in this event after his stunning victory in Spain earlier this month, but came home in 32nd behind his brother Martin.
Martin Finished off Podium
Martin rounded of the podium places despite suffering from a puncture during his attempt. The German was locked in a battle with Saxo Bank star Richie Porte after he had to change wheels. He finally beat the Australian, who is from Tasmania, by a slim seven points. Martin has had a good year finishing second to Cancellara in both Tour de France time-trials, but he had to pull out of the Tour of Britain earlier in the month due to illness.
Millar’s Garmin teammate David Zabriskie had some tense moments while he was waiting on the starting ramp. The American team arrived very close to the start and with 20 seconds to go the moustached wonder was still waiting for his bike, which was still being inspected. Fortunately he wasn’t forced to run the 45 kilometre route and his bike arrived with barely 10 second to go before the start. He managed to shake of the disruption and finished in eighth, but surely he would have been hoping for more.
The men competed on the same 22.8km course as the women, but went around twice instead of the once. This resulted in many riders being lapped on the way around. Many of the riders will be taking to the road on Sunday for the road race which will start at 10am local time.
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