Rio 2016: Chris Froome has to make do with bronze after Fabian Cancellara rolls back the years to win gold

Froome's late surge was enough to see him win a seventh medal for Team GB but there was no stopping Cancellara powering to his second Olympic gold

Chris Froome presents his bronze medal after the men's time trial (PA)

It was a chair he knew well. Four years ago in the Olympic throne room at Hampton Court Chris Froome occupied the same bronze seat he claimed in Rio yesterday, only then it seemed to carry little value.

Perhaps it was having to sit in the shadow of Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins for the second time in three weeks that sucked the joy out of that day in London.

Here on the South Atlantic coast in Brazil there was warm glow notwithstanding the Welsh weather after adding a second Olympic medal to the the Tour de France crown he won for a third time last month, and this in finishing more than a minute adrift of winner Fabian Cancellara.

No longer referenced by the achievements of Wiggins Froome is at ease with himself and quietly chuffed to put further statistical distance between the pair by becoming the first Briton in history to claim a second Olympic medal on the road.

Fabian Cancellara won the second Olympic gold medal of his career (Getty)

“I’ve got no regrets today; I gave it everything I had. Fabian was clearly the strongest guy on the road. If I’d only come five or ten seconds down on him, I may have been questioning whether I could have gone any faster. But a minute clear of me he was by far the best guy out there.

“They were tough conditions. I tried to hold something back for the second lap but I got into it and just didn’t have the legs to really push on.

“It’s been an amazing summer. Winning the Tour was a big target for me and I came here to try and back it up. Just to be at the Olympics is really special, but to come away with another medal is even more special.”

Chris Froome won bronze in the men's time trial for the second consecutive Olympics (Getty)

Team Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas, a late addition to the time trial following a number of road race injury withdrawals, finished a creditable 9th while accepting that he was never close to his best after crashing on Saturday.

“It was a fight from the start. I didn’t feel fresh or on it really,” he said. “You look down at the Watts and know you are not going fast enough to win. But you have to keep going, keep pushing and try to do your best.

“When I reflect on it in a couple of weeks, when the emotions have settled down a bit, I can be proud of how I raced and got stuck into it. It’s great to be here, representing the country. Nothing makes me more proud than to wear the Team GB jersey at the Olympic Games.

“You put the emotion to one side when you put your race head on and you focus on the race. Maybe the crash [in the road race] might have [affected me] a bit. Also, mentally, the late call up might have been a blessing.”

Froome was last off the ramp on the kind of damp blustery day with which campers in Wales are more familiar. He was 19 seconds down at the first split and it never got better than that. Cancellera, in his retirement year, was just too good, powering to his second time trial gold more than 43 seconds ahead of silver medalist Tom Dumoulin of Holland.