Spain's Samuel Sanchez won the Olympic gold medal in road race on Saturday in a six-man sprint over a hot, humid 152-mile course around Beijing.
The 30-year-old cyclist for Euskaltel-Euskadi during the regular season was helped by a national team that included this year's Giro d'Italia champion Alberto Contador and Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre.
Not that Sanchez didn't pull his own weight. He took his turn pulling apart the peloton on the last lap and a half for Alejandro Valverde, a favorite to win for Spain. But when the attacks started on the final kilometers, Valverde couldn't respond.
US cyclists Levi Leipheimer and Christian Vande Velde finished in 11th and 17th, part of a group that was left behind in the final push to the finish.
Sanchez, Davide Rebellin (Italy), and Andy Schleck (Luxembourg) got a jump on the leaders with about 12 kilometers left in the race, pulling away from the group that included Leipheimer, Vande Velde, Valverde and Australia's Cadel Evans, who finished in 15th.
Two riders gave chase — Michael Rogers of Australia and Alexander Kolobnex of Russia. When it looked hopeless, Fabian Cancellara appeared in the chase group and powered them to the leading three.
Rebellin finished second, the 37-year-old winning the silver medal; Cancellara took third, winning the bronze for Switzerland.
Streaming-video showed cyclists suffering from the heat and humidity on Saturday, with many abandoning. The last two laps, when Spain put down the hammer, were particularly rough.
Of the 143 bicyclists who started, only 90 finished the race.
The air looked smoggy, especially in the first part of the race before the cyclists headed out for the laps to the Great Wall. Hincapie said it was among the worst conditions he's ever raced in, while Leipheimer said, however, that although it looks bad, it wasn't bothering him.
Results
Samuel Sanchez (Spain) — gold
Davide Rebellin (Italy) — silver
Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) — bronze
Team USA
11. Levi Leipheimer, 20 seconds behind
17. Christian Vande Velde, 30 seconds
40. George Hincapie, 2-minutes-46
Did not finish, Jason McCartney, David Zabriskie
Upcoming
Leipheimer and Zabriskie are slated to compete in the men's individual time trial on Wednesday (video-streamed beginning at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday [ET], 10:30 p.m. Tuesday [PT]).
Next up is women's road race, video streamed at 11 p.m. (PT) on Saturday. See TV and online schedules for Olympic cycling.
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