Golden finish for Ullrich

Job well done: Germany's Kloden (left) and Ullrich

Former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich has taken the Olympic road race gold medal after a masterful display from the German and his team.

The 1997 Tour winner came home first after a three-man attack which also included compatriot Andreas Kloden and Kazakhstan's Alexander Vinokourov.

The German pair and their breakaway companion all ride for the trade team of Deutsche Telekom during the European season.

Although they were riding for their countries in Sydney this was also a triumph for the squad currently ranked number one in the world.

An early relaxed pace was transformed later

The trio attacked during the penultimate of 14 laps around the 17.1km circuit, and none of the rest of the world's best riders responded until it was too late.

Ullrich broke away from the other two during the final five kilometres and was never challenged by either.

Vinokourov outsprinted Kloden for the silver medal at the finish outside the Sydney Cricket Ground.

British gamble crashes

The challenge of Britain's Atlanta bronze medallist Max Sciandri faded as he failed to chase Ullrich's crucial move, judging it to be early

We had hopes for maybe one medal - we never could have dreamed of this

  German team manager Burckhard Bremmer

"That's the gamble we had to take putting all our eggs in one basket," admitted UK team manager John Herety.

Sciandri finished 35th and John Tanner 39th but both were in the main pack over a minute and a half down on Ullrich.

The rest of the team failed to finish with Rob Hayles completing his unlucky Olympics with another crash to go with one during the Madison event on the track last week.

Hayles finished fourth in two events on the velodrome, and although he was part of the bronze-winning team pursuit squad had to fight to get a medal after not riding the final.

"He's OK he's got some pretty severe bruising," said Herety. "His morale's pretty good considering the Olympics he's had."

Ullrich and Kloden reflect soon after the finish

The real racing around the 231km course began with three laps remaining.

Former world no 1 Laurent Jalabert (France) and bronze medallist Kloden were the leading lights in a 16-man group which rode away from the bunch.

Most of the major countries were represented, although the US lost their man when Fred Rodriguez punctured.

Spain and the Dutch had missed the move and were forced to chase during the 11th and 12th laps.

But it was left to individual riders to bridge the 25-second gap and Ullrich was among the first to do so.

Michele Bartoli of Italy, Sciandri and the American George Hincapie also got across, helping swell the size and speed of the group.

But this pack contained too many sprinters for a rider like Ullrich to take on in the finish, including former Tour de France leader Jaan Kirsipuu of Estonia.

Other favourites like Jalabert and Bartoli appeared prepared to wait before attacking the large group but Ullrich was impatient and strong enough to go with a lap and a half remaining.

Ullrich's compatriot Jens Voigt was in an early attack

Kloden and Vinokourov quickly helped extend the lead at the start of the final circuit to 42 seconds from a chasing pair of Bartoli and compatriot Paolo Bettini.

The Italian duo did not have the power of the trio ahead, and soon dropped back into a small chase group which lost rapid time.

Ullrich had finished almost a minute and a half before Bartoli outsprinted Jalabart for fourth place.

Lance Armstrong, who beat Ullrich to the Tour de France title this summer, was 13th.

A high-speed sprint among the rest of the field for 14th was won by yet another German, five-times Tour de France points jersey winner Erik Zabel.

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