Cycling: Ekimov shocks Tour giants to win second gold

In the debate between Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich over the destiny of the Olympic time-trial gold, no one had realistically considered the possibility of an alternative conversation stopper.

Let alone the prospect of gold hanging round the neck of a 34-year-old Russian, whose prime occupation during the season was to run errands for Armstrong as one of the US Postal team.

But, over the three laps of Centennial Park course, Viacheslav Ekimov turned from domestique into lord of the manor to win his second Olympic gold a remarkable 12 years after his first, in the team pursuit in Seoul.

Riding 14th from last, the Russian made full use of a temporary drop in the wind and flew round the 46.8km distance in a time of 57.40, eight seconds ahead of Ullrich, who added a silver medal to his gold in the road race, and 34 seconds faster than Armstrong, his team leader with US Postal.

"For me," said Ekimov, "Lance is the most respected rider in the peloton. To be back after what he has been through, to me he is just a hero and I'm proud to ride with him. But today I have the gold."

Ekimov's achievement will leave Britain's Chris Boardman shaking his head. Boardman came to Sydney aiming to round off his own career where it started, with gold.

But his farewell ride on the road was a disappointment as he struggled with the shifting winds and with his own lack of confidence to record a time of 59.32, nearly two minutes behind the winner.

The ride confirmed what he already sensed.

"I'd love to have finished with a medal and my supporters would have loved it too, but I did all I could," he said.

"I was OK, I was respectable, but it's difficult to be an also-ran when I've been up there in events like this. I've got two more hours left to ride, on the track, and then I'm away and, if anything, this has proved to me that I'm making the right decision toretire."

If Armstrong, twice champion of the Tour de France, looked a trifle bemused on the podium, standing a notch below his venerable team-mate, his bewilderment was entirely understandable.

Ekimov has always been a talented rider on his day and was a considerable champion on the track in his early years, winning the amateur world pursuit title three times in the late Eighties and the professional title in 1990, but little in his form through the season on the road suggested he had the legs to outstrip riders of the calibre of Armstrong and Ullrich in their own disciplines.

Ironically, he owed his return to the US Postal team entirely to the patronage of Armstrong, who wanted a renowned strong man to anchor US Postal for the team time trial in the Tour.

"Eki was on the team in 1998 and then he left, which upset me," Armstrong said.

"But I said at the end of last year we've got to get him back. We had a long history of racing against each other in the early Nineties, going head-to-head. We weren't exactly room-mates. But he's a guy I've got to know over the past few years and he's a special person, a strong guy and a real pro."

Ekimov, from the town of Vyborg on the Finnish border, won his gold the hard way, setting his time in early afternoon and being forced to wait as one by one the acknowledged masters of the clock tried to match his time.

When, eight kilometers from the end of his ride, Ullrich was six seconds faster, it seemed Ekimov's wait would be in vain.

But the German, having won gold in the road race two days before, tired noticeably over the closing stages. Armstrong too floundered over the final stretch to the line.

"It was the longest wait of my life," Ekimov added. "But it was worth it."

- INDEPENDENT