Rio 2016: Greg van Avermaet secures gold medal in road race as Vincenzo Nibali and Geraint Thomas collide

Belgium's Van Avermaet took the lead with a kilometre to go and held off Fuglsang and Majka

(Getty)

The best that can be hoped after a brutal day in the Olympic saddle is that Chris Froome recovers sufficiently before Wednesday’s time trial and Geraint Thomas has rapidly-renewing skin after a tumble 11 kms from home cruelly robbed him of a road race medal.

Thomas eventually made it across the line in tenth, one place ahead of Froome.

Not the golden opening for which Britain’s cyclists had so meticulously planned. What a game this is, 237 kilometers of quad-busting torment closing with three helpings of a category two climb up the Vista Chinesa.

Once again an Olympic road coarse proved infertile territory for a British male crew, despite on this occasion executing the strategy as planned, unlike London four years ago.

Froome was in the race until the final climb when all that effort taming the French roads last month caught up with him and he could not respond to Vincenzo Nibali’s late thrust.

Thomas was hanging on in pursuit of three-man breakaway comprising Nibali, Team Sky’s Colombian flyer Sergio Henao and Poland’s Rafal Majka when all hell broke loose on the final descent. First Nibali went over then Henao.

Greg van Avermaet won a sprint finish to clinch Olympic road race gold (EPA)

Majka was far enough adrift to negotiate the rubble and stole away 20 seconds clear, a lucky break but not conclusive with a hungry peloton in pursuit.

Never mind a medal, Thomas was now in the hunt for gold, or he would have been had he, too, not come to grief within seconds down the narrow, twisting route out of the national park towards Ipenema.

It was left to Belgium’s Greg van Avermaet and Jakob Fuglsang of Denmarlk to chase down Majka, catching him along the Ipenema waterfront before sprinting clear to claim gold and silver respectively.

Thomas was too distraught to speak afterwards, preferring the 140-character medium. “Gutted,” he tweeted.

The sentiment was shared by team boss Rod Ellingworth, who was full of praise for his five-man squad which also included Ian Stannard, Steve Cummings and Adam Yates.

“It was exactly what we thought: pretty full-on all the way. That break was a really strong group, but we knew it wasn't enough riders to go all the way.

“Steve did a great job bringing the lads into that first climb. We wanted it to be hard, it was hard. Geraint put himself in the bike race perfectly. Adam came round. He had a really bad time at the beginning of that first circuit and then he rode himself in, so that was good. In general, great teamwork. The way the lads wanted to race is how they actually raced. Just unfortunate about the crash at the end.”

Chris Froome speaks with a bruised Geraint Thomas after the men's road race (PA)

Reports of a trip to hospital for Thomas proved wide of the mark, though Ellingworth did acknowledge the discomfort involved.

“He's all right. He's fallen heavy, he's got plenty of skin off, but he's okay, I think. He was proper, proper disappointed there. He knew that was a proper gold medal chance.”

At least Froome has a second crack at gold in the time trial. “He's okay,” Ellingworth said. “He rode well, climbed the last mountain, left a lot of world-class bike riders, (Alejandro) Valverde, the French riders, couldn't stay with him. In general his condition is good. It's about recovery now, looking after him and giving him the best chance.”