Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara motored to the gold medal Wednesday in the men’s time trial at the Beijing Olympics, covering the 47 kilometers in 1 hour 2 minutes 11.43 seconds.

Cancellara trailed Gustav Erik Larsson of Sweden by six seconds at the third and final time check, 12.4 kilometers from the finish, but Cancellara ended up beating him by 33.36 second. Larsson ended up with the silver, ahead of the likes of American Levi Leipheimer, Spain’s Alberto Contador and Aussie Cadel Evans.

Leipheimer took the bronze in 1:09.68 behind Cancellara, followed by Contador and Evans. At the third time check, Leipheimer ranked fifth, trailing Contador by more than 32 seconds and Evans by seven seconds. He made up 41 seconds on Contador in the last 12.4 kilometers and 21 on Evans.

Road race gold medalist Samuel Sanchez of Spain, Canadian Svein Tufts, Aussie Michael Rogers, and Stef Clement and Robert Gesink of the Netherlands rounded out the top 10.

Other notables: American David Zabriskie placed 12th, double Tour de France TT winner Stefan Schumacher of Germany was 13th; Canadian Ryder Hesjedal was 16th; Russians Vladimir Karpets and Denis Menchov were 18th and 20th, respectively; and Luxembourg’s Kim Kirchen ended up 23rd.

In the women’s race, American Kristen Armstrong won the gold, covering the 23.5 kilometer course in 34 minutes 51.72 seconds. England’s Emma Pooley took silver, 24 seconds back, and Switzerland’s Karin Thürig claimed the bronze, 59 seconds in arrears.

Armstrong trailed Pooley by 3.58 seconds at the intermediate time check, and beat her by 27 seconds in the closing 12.7 kilometers.

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