Jan was the man

Ullrich: One gold, one missed by eight seconds

BBC Sport Online's Chris Russell reviews the men's road cycling, where Jan Ullrich starred as British fans were left looking to the past and to the future.

From a British point of view it is nice to label Team GB as the stars of the cycling in Sydney.

But the performances of Queally, McGregor and co were still outshone by the more established European nations.

Much has been written about the first week, not least Simon Brotherton's review of why the British did so well. Click here to see it if you missed it during the Games.

So let us concentrate on what followed out in the open air, where there were no more medals for Britain but plenty more for the big names of the professional road scene.

Lance Armstrong was left with a bronze

The top road man of the Olympics was Jan Ullrich with one gold and a silver.

Winner of the 1997 Tour de France at a ridiculously young age, he looked set to dominate for years.

That has not happened, although he has finished second on every other occasion he has tackled the Tour.

But it is not what he has done during the summer that feeds Ullrich's critics.

They complain that he over-feeds himself during the winter, and returns overweight and under-trained for the season ahead in the spring.

This has left him just short of the preparation required for July in the past and the late season is where he now seems to shine.

Last year the Tour of Spain provided glorious salvation while this time he treated Sydney to as dominant a ride as you could wish to see before losing time trial gold by just eight seconds.

Ullrich's next target is the world championships

If he gets his winter right this time then we will see a great deal more of the German talent, and he is certainly capable of beating Lance Armstrong again in France next July.

The American said before the Olympics that he had to win a gold because the US public would lose respect for him and the Tour de France if he did not.

"How tough can this Tour be?" he suspected they would ask if he failed to win on what they perceived must be the world's greatest stage.

Well it happened and a bronze was his reward for two attempts at gold.

After being soundly beaten by Ullrich, Viacheslav Ekimov won the time trial.

Ironically Armstrong had personally insisted the gold medallist be restored to his own US Postal team for this season and the pair are good friends.

  Road race

Gold: Jan Ullrich

Silver: Alexandre Vinokourov

Bronze: Andreas Kloden

But most back home will see the winner simply as a little-known Russian who beat their boy on the biggest world stage. No matter that next to the Tour the Olympic time trial is a gentle ride in the park.

For Ekimov himself it was a surprise success 12 long years after his first Olympic success on the track in Seoul.

Since then he has become a solid member of the professional road scene, best known for tearing off the front of the bunch to victory at the end of a long race.

Brits: Past and future

The sentimental among us would have loved to see Chris Boardman up there but it is clear that the Briton is past his best - and for good reason.

At least retirement should bring relief from his bone-wasting disease, not least because he will be able to take drugs which are on the banned list.

British fans can still cheer on Chris and the track medallists at the World Track Championships in Manchester this autumn.

  Time trial

Gold: Viacheslav Ekimov

Silver: Jan Ullrich

Bronze: Lance Armstrong

His replacement as Britain's number one, David Millar, is more than capable of filling his pedals in coming Tours and Olympics.

Finally, a word for John Tanner - a man who plies his trade on the little-known British domestic scene, where racing relies on police goodwill rather than the massive sponsors across the Channel.

In June he beat off Millar and the other foreign-based riders to win the British road championship.

And in Sydney he finished 39th, amongst the world's best and just four places behind experienced team-mate Max Sciandri.

Like other athletes who took theit rare chance in Sydney, Tanner showed the Olympic ideal was still alive in cycling.