Olympics: Swiss cyclists disappoint in road race
Germany's Telekom team has run rings around the opposition in the Olympic men's road race, with Jan Ullrich, Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Klöden taking gold, silver and bronze. Markus Zberg was the highest ranked Swiss rider.
The Swiss never looked like repeating the success of Pascal Richard, who won the 1996 Olympic road race but was controversially left out of this year’s selection. Zberg crossed the line 21st, more than a minute and a half behind Ullrich, the German rider enjoying his greatest triumph since winning the Tour de France in 1997.
Supported by Klöden, a fellow German, and his Kazakhstan team-mate Vinokourov, Ullrich broke away from the pack with 30 kilometres to go. After building up a lead of some 90 seconds, the only question remaining was which of the three riders would take the gold.
The answer came in the final kilometre with Ullrich sprinting away unchallenged from his Telekom team-mates.
Switzerland’s poor showing will add fuel to Richard’s argument that he was unfairly prevented from defending his Olympic title. Behind Zberg, only Oscar Camenzind managed to finish in the top 50, with Mauro Gianetti, Laurent Dufaux and Alex Zülle all trailing.
The impressive nature of Ullrich’s win makes it seem unlikely that Richard could have done much better, but the former Olympic champion will continue to argue that he should have at least been given the chance.
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