2012 Olympics: Alexander Vinokourov Wins Men’s Cycling Road Race

Among the first events during the first fully-packed day at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the Men’s Cycling competitors worked their way through the London countryside on a 249.5-kilometer trek for a gold medal. As the race entered the final 7 km, Colombian Rigoberto Uran and Kazakhstan-rider Alexander Vinokourov pulled away from the pack, trading places through the stretch.

Vinokourov, in likely the final race of his career, used all the veteran guile at his disposal and caught Uran looking in the final sprint to win his first career gold medal. Vinokourov finished in 5 hours 45 minutes 57 seconds with Uran just behind him.

Uran looked to his left, trying to keep in front of Vinokourov, but Vinokourov came back to the right as Uran looked left and took off, sealing the victory. Vinokourov won silver in the 2000 Summer Games and has four Tour de France stage wins in his career.

Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara was near the front of the pack, trying to follow up his 2008 silver medal in Beijing, but took a turn too sharp, losing traction and crashing into the side wall. Unlike at the Tour de France, Olympic cycling is an individual event and Cancellara is arguably the best solo-cyclist in the world. But he lost too much ground, finishing in 101st.

Tour de France individual winner Bradley Wiggins challenged near the top of the field late, yet finished in 98th place. British gold-medal-favorite Mark Cavendish finished 28th.

American rider Taylor Phinney just missed a medal, finishing in fourth just behind Norway’s Alexander Kristoff with a time of 5:46:05. Phinney looked noticeably dejected after the race.

Gold Medal: Alexander Vinokourov, Kazakhstan, 5:45:57
Silver Medal: Rigoberto Uran, Columbia, +0:00
Bronze Medal: Alexander Kristoff, Norway, +0:08

For complete coverage of the 2012 London Olympics, vist SB Nation’s Summer Olympics hub.