Welcome to coverage of the Olympics individual time trial, where riders take on 2 laps of the road race circuit. The route is 36.8kms long and will provide a hilly test.
There are just three survivors from the top 10 of the Athens Olympics. The bronze medal winner Bobby Julich, 4th place Michael Rogers and 10th placed Fabian Cancellara. The reigning champion Tyler Hamilton, is unemployed following a ban from doping.
Todays favourites are David Zabriskie, Fabian Cancellara and Michael Rogers.
Slovenia's Mitja Mahoric is the first to start, followed by Kurt Asle-Arvesen and then Steven Cummings. Arvesen is quicker than the Slovenian at the first checkpoint. But then Bonnet, Lang and Plaza all go quicker with Nibali and Devolder posting promosing starts too.
Mahoric is onto his 2nd lap, with Rogers just behind him on his first. Starting after Rogers is another favourite, Zabriskie. Rogers and Zabriskie are level pegging at check one, although they are both 2 seconds shy of Ruben Plaza.
The finish line soon beckons for Mahoric and he sets a time of 55'40. Arvesen is soon ahead though with 55'17.
Meanwhile on course, Thomas Dekker is the fastest at check one, while Janez Brajkovic has gone 2nd, ahead of Plaza who is currently leading at the 2nd checkpoint. The first gold medallist of the Olympics Bradley Wiggins, currently finds himself in 10th at the first check.
Wiggins' teammate Cummings goes 2nd at the finish, 8 seconds behind Arvesen while Ivan Parra comes closer still equaling Arvesen's time as Fabian Cancellara embarks his time trial.
William Bonnet takes the lead! 54'24 iscomfortably quicker than Arvesen but not enough to beat Lang, who soon comes in 13 seconds better off.
The leads changes again so quickly though as Ruben Plaza comes through in 53'36, impressive stuff.
Nibali is next and he goes 2nd with 54'09. An excellent final section for him as he had previously been slower than Lang. Rogers and Zabriskie have both passed the 2nd check - again with the same time, and losing time on Ruben Plaza.
Stijn Devolder goes 4th, slightly slower than Lang while John-Lee Augustyn - last at all the checkpoints goes last at the finish too, unable to beat Mahoric. Alexandre Moos goes 5th as teammate Cancellara levels Dekker's time at the first checkpoint.
Speaking of Thomas Dekker, he has just passed the 2nd check in 2nd place - equal time but a little bit slower than Plaza.
Hungarian's Tamas Lengyel goes 10th (Out of 12th) and with Jaroslav Popovych's departure, all riders are now on the course - if they have not already finished. Gustav Larsson goes 4th, 38 seconds behind Plaza, 3 behind 3rd place Lang.
The next riders due in are the inseperable duo of Rogers and Zabriskie.
Rogers goes 2nd with 53'49 and with 53'50 Zabriskie goes 3rd. Plaza is still looking comfy at the top.
Alex Rasmussen is nearly the first rider to get caught and comes in 10th with 55'16.
Next to finish is Thomas Dekker and he looks spent - Robbie Hunter even passes the dutchman (As he starts his final lap). Dekker comes in 2nd, an agonising 2 seconds slower than Ruben Plaza.
Disappointing day for Mikhail Ignatiev, who goes 11th. Followed home by Dmitri Grabovski, who also goes 11th - albeit 17 seconds quicker. The last two riders have just passed through the first checkpoint and have recorded the two fastest times of the day. Karpets leads with 13'22, Popovych is in 13'23, while Dekker and Cancellara are at 13'28. Current leader Plaza is only 8th at the first check, 9 seconds down.
Next in is Janez Brajkovic. He started strongly but hasnt followed through, manging 5th with 53'53. Hushovd goes 7th with 54'10, right inbetween Nibali and Lang. He may be a little disappointed as he was ahead of Nibali at the 2nd check. Paolo Savoldelli has just passed the 2nd checkpoint in 3rd position, 8 seconds behind Plaza and Dekker.
Disappointing day for Bradley Wiggins, who manages 12th. A position which Viktor Hugo Pena soon takes from him. Sylvain Chavanel puts in a surprisingly good performance of 11th, beating his fellow frenchman Bonnet by 6 seconds.
Andreas Kloden goes 6th, level on time with 5th place Brajkovic, and then Pereiro comes in down in 14th placed. Fabian Cancellara has gone 3rd at the 2nd checkpoint - 3 seconds down on Plaza and Dekker and ahead of Paolo Savoldelli, who has just gone 3rd at the finish, 12 seconds behind Plaza.
Leif Hoste comes in 17th and Robbie Hunter is next - just avoiding the catch from Accumalux teammate Fabian Cancellara.
Hunter goes 25th while Cancellara can only manage 3rd - 9 seconds off Plaza's time. But Vladimir Karpets is still on track, taking the lead at the 2nd checkpoint. Whatever happens - the result is looking good for Virgin Media.
Only 15th for Laszlo Bodrogi but he goes much quicker than Magnus Backstedt, who takes 27th. 10th spot goes to Bradley McGee, some revenge on Wiggins who beat him on the track - Wiggins is now down in 21st.
Next man home is Bobby Julich. Took Bronze at the last Olympics, but cannot repeat that today. 4th in 53'47 is still an excellent effort though.
Lars Ytting Bak ends an okay day in 25th, beating teammate Alex Rasmussen by 19 seconds and surprisingly ahead of Ignatiev. He is followed by current world champion Robert Gesink, but only 53'54 is not a goos result for him.
Two riders left, and they look like the two quickest of the day as they hold the top 2 spots at both checkpoints. First is Vladimir Karpets. He led Plaza by 3 seconds at the 2nd check and remains 3 seconds ahead, taking the lead!
The final rider is Jaroslav Popovych of Ukraine. He was 1 second down at the first check, and 2 down at the second. Can he turn it around or will he be 3 seconds down?
He goes 2nd, just 2 seconds down! So close to Gold but unable to get it. Vladimir Karpets is the Olympic champion!!
