Roglic caps Slovenia’s run with Olympic time trial win

OYAMA, Japan (AP) — Primoz Roglic capped an incredible month for Slovenian cycling by winning the Olympic time trial on Wednesday.

Roglic finished in 55 minutes, 04.19 seconds, adding a gold medal for Slovenia to the bronze teammate Tadej Pogecar won in the Olympic road race. Pogecar also cruised to his second consecutive Tour de France title earlier this month.

Roglic’s closest rival was Dutch time trial specialist Tom Dumoulin, who finished more than a minute behind to win his second consecutive Olympic silver medal. Rohan Dennis of Australia claimed the bronze medal while the prerace favorite, Italian time trial champ Filippo Ganna, faded over the final kilometers and finished fifth.

Just over four seconds separated Dumoulin in second from Ganna in fifth in the race for silver and bronze.

Roglic, who finished second in the Tour a year ago, was expected to push his countryman in France. But he fell heavily twice in the first three stages, and while he had no broken bones, he ultimately abandoned the race with plenty of bruises.

All it did was give him extra preparation time for Wednesday’s race.

The 31-year-old former ski jumper was among the last to leave the starting line at Fuji International Speedway, setting a blistering pace from the moment he tucked into his aero position. Roglic had edged Wout van Aert at the first time check, extended his lead over the field at the second and never let up during a dominating 44.2-kilometer ride.

The breeze picked up as the afternoon wore on, which should have given earlier starters a slight advantage.

Among them was Hugo Houle, the seventh of 39 to take the course. Even though riders are roughly ordered so that those with the best medal chances go last, the Canadian laid down a time of 57:56 that stood for nearly an hour.

Remco Evenepoel was the first to knock Houle from his perch.

The 21-year-old son of former pro Patrick Evenepoel trailed Houle at the first two checkpoints, but he found another gear for the second lap around the course. With his chin rarely leaving his handlebars in an aerodynamic position, Evenepoel cruised down the long straightaway to set the new target 35 seconds better for the last wave of riders.

Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran, who was eighth in the road race, soon moved past the Belgian and into the hot seat. Uran was never able to get comfortable, though, with the time trial’s heavy hitters taking the course.

Roglic turned out to be the heaviest of them.

Slovenia only qualified one starting spot for the time trial, so Roglic got the nod over Pogecar, who is very good against the clock in his own right. And the decision was clearly the right one: Roglic caught and passed Polish time trial champ Kasper Asgreen, who started 90 seconds before him, early on the second lap around the speedway.

Roglic was so dominant, his victory was all but assured before he even reached the finishing stretch.

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