Cavendish misses out on road race medal

Team GB cycling sprint ace Mark Cavendish missed out on a medal again on day one of the London 2012 Olympic Games, losing out to Kazakhstan’s Alexandr Vinokourov in the 250km road race.

Cavendish, the world champion and winner of 23 Tour de France stages, was among the favouties for the event, which included nine ascents of Surrey’s Box Hill. Four years ago in Beijing, the Manx cyclist was the only British cyclist not to win a medal.

But despite phenomenal support from his four British team-mates – including Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins – Cavendish was not in a position to combat a late 12-man breakway.

He lagged behind the front group as the riders re-entered Richmond Park as the race neared its end. There was a crash in the park as Fabian Cancellara veered into roadside barriers.

Vinokourov and the Colombian Rigoberto Uran broke clear in the finale, and the Kazakh launched his sprint with 400 metres to go.

GB swimmer Hannah Miley (below), a favourite for a gold medal, came fifth in the women’s 400m individual medley.

First gold for China

Earlier in the day, Chinese shooter, Yi Siling became the first gold medal winner at the 2012 Games, beating Poland’s Sylwia Bogacka into second place in the women’s 10m air rifle final.

Superstar swimmer Michael Phelps, meanwhile, barely qualified for his final and Beijing 400-metre champion Park Tae-hwan of South Korea was disqualified at the Aquatic Centre.

The International Olympic Committee banned Hysen Pulaku after he tested positive for a banned steroid, stanozolol, on July 23. The announcement came a day after Albania dropped the 19-year-old from its weightlifting team over doping suspicions.

Top-ranked Yi won the women’s 10-meter air rifle while Sylwia Bogacka of Poland took silver and China’s Yu Dan the bronze.

“I have been up since five this morning… I was very nervous, there was a lot of pressure on me,” Yi said.